


TRIGGER

by JakeOhnoman



Category: Original Work
Genre: Action/Adventure, Gen, Lots of guns, Science Fiction, Shonen-Inspired
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-02
Updated: 2021-02-16
Packaged: 2021-03-08 04:46:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 55,247
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26779825
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JakeOhnoman/pseuds/JakeOhnoman
Summary: In an alternate future, mankind has been given the ability to summon Firearms - gun-like weapons created via the psyche - by an alien race. Though most cannot use these weapons at all, those who do can very easily use them for evil. To fight back against Firearm-related crime and terrorism, the Team Responsible for Irradiating Goons and Greater Evils Respectfully, also known as TRIGGER, trains those with Firearms to use them properly and to protect peace and justice. Now, the newest team of TRIGGER Agents have begun their training, and will have to save the world... one bullet at a time!
Comments: 1
Kudos: 23





	1. Prologue for FIRST ROUND - The Mind

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! This is Jake Ohnoman, creator of TRIGGER. I'd just like to say thank you for deciding to check this thing out. I really appreciate it and hope you enjoy!
> 
> Like TRIGGER? Join the Discord for special previews, behind-the-scenes content and more! https://discord.gg/uGNZj7T

_“The mind is a beautiful thing._

_No matter how much we tear, no matter how much we bleed, it’s still there. It’s still fighting._

_Even if we die, the little impacts we make on other people add up. It shapes how we appear to others, and makes us part of their minds. That’s how we connect to others._

_I know that when I’m gone, you two will remember me. At least, I hope you will. The connections we’ve made... the links we’ve shared... they’ll always be a part of me. And they’ll always be a part of him, too._

_Keep me in your thoughts, and I’ll keep you guys in mine._

_See you later.”_


	2. Episode 1 - The Introduction

-10:02 AM, January 1st, 2111-

“Before we begin, does everyone know the origin of Firearms?”

Three people were sitting in a slightly small, pure white, cubic room. They sat in desks next to each other, looking forward, viewing a screen that displayed nothing, but still glowed dimly with the promise of eventually showing something, the kind of dark blue you see with those kinds of screens. In-between the three people and the screen that might display something was a humanoid-like figure, teeming with wires that wrapped around themselves and were visible where the white plates (though not as white as the room) did not cover. Its head was small, spherical; a large, blue, camera-looking device on the front of it, surrounded by a small ring of black; eight small spike-like glass things on its back, four on each side, seemingly with some sort of energy within them and a blue and black hat you would usually see on a police officer wear.

In simpler terms, it was a robot with a police officer hat on.

Of course, elongated explanations of robots with hats and people and screens-that-have-yet-to-do-anything mean nothing in terms of the passage of time, meaning that the question the robot asked has only just now happened, and the boy in the middle has only just now began to answer.

“One-hundred years, four months and eight days ago, Planet Earth became the six-hundredth and twelfth planet to join the United Planets of the Known Universe in Title Totality, also known as UPKUTT. Thirty-five years, two months and six days after that, Planet Earth joined forces with the Planet Pistola, UPKUTT member number four-hundred seventy-two, to aid in stopping the civil war going on at the time. After a three year long effort, peace was restored to Pistola, which then gave us the gift of Firearms.”

The robot, who had put together a virtual presentation on the subject, complete with comedic pictures and exactly seventeen different fonts, somberly walked over to the screen on the wall and turned it off, promptly ending the promising blue it had previously displayed.

“Yes,” he said, “exactly. Good work. And I’m sure you’re all aware that-“

“Firearms themselves are a physical manifestation of one’s own psyche, given a model and ability specific and unique to oneself?”

The boy in the middle had a satisfied grin on his face. The robot did not have a face, but still radiated with disappointment.

“... Yes. Very good. Again. Now that we’re done reviewing basic information, it’s time we started the interviews. Please remain here for a moment.”

A door opened at the left side of the room, the robot walked through it, and it closed behind him.

Then, silence.

For a seemingly long amount of time, silence.

For almost three minutes, there was nothing in that room but three people, a screen with lost promise and oodles upon oodles of silence.

That was until the girl on the left who had been working up the courage to say something for the past almost three minutes finally spoke to the boy in the middle.

“H-Hey, did you actually memorize all those dates and stuff?”

The boy, who still had the same satisfied grin he had after stealing the thunder of that poor robot, turned to the girl in a way that made his hair do a sort of *fwip* while making direct eye contact with her at the same time.

“Why, yes,” he said, seemingly shining, “Yes I did.”

“That’s… kind of incredible. W- When I’m in school, I can barely remember-“

“Why, it is incredible, isn’t it? Well, now that I think about it, my memory has been known to amaze throughout the nation! I remember at one point, I went to...”

The boy in the middle then started talking extensively, or at least seemed to, as at this point the girl at the left became intimidated and stopped listening. Moments after this, the door opened up again and the robot peeked his head through.

“Maki,” he said, “The Captain will see you now.”

Maki, thankful to escape the situation she had accidentally put herself in, rose up from her desk and walked through the door. Maki had warm beige skin, though most of it was covered by a long pink sweater that went down below her waist, her legs covered by black jeans. Her hair was a light brown, slightly curly near the ends, and her eyes were big and hazel-colored. Atop her head was a red headband, covered in black dots- it looked like a ladybug.

The door led to another, equally white room; in this one, however, there was only a single chair that faced a brown work-desk. Sitting there was a behemoth of a man; Maki would probably only hit his knee if they were standing next to each other. His suit was reminiscent of an army general's, but seemed softer, in a way. Its color was a light brown, say for the black buttons lined down its center. A burgundy turtleneck came out from the neck of his suit, and presumably his undershirt was the same color. He had on black gloves, black shoes, and a small badge on his left breast that had on it a patterned star, with the word 'TRIGGER' under it. His skin was tan, his spiky, somewhat messy hair was a dark red, and on both sides of his mouth he had small fangs. He was certainly scary looking - and somewhat inhuman - but, still, he spoke with a deep, growly assuredness.

“Hello there, Miss Mai-Dearest. Please, take a seat.”

His voice was booming. It froze Maki in place for a moment. She realized that she probably needed to follow his instructions as to make sure the interaction with this what looked to be military base come to life went smoothly, and thus, sat down.

“Your name is Maki Mai-Dearest. You’re sixteen, female, birthdate April fourth and currently attending Hallera Public High School. Is all of this information correct?”

“Uh... y- yes, sir.”

“Good. Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Captain Ammo Shotglock, leader of the organization you’ll be entering soon enough. Excuse me if my appearance is intimidating. I assure you, I’m not as mean as I look.”

The living wall of muscle in front of Maki who apparently called himself Captain reached his hand out to shake Maki’s. Maki, who was somewhat relieved to see that this man was not, in fact, a bloodthirsty demon from the depths of hell who had come to eat her soul even though he still really gave off that sort of vibe, hesitantly shook his hand.

“Now then, Miss Mai-Dearest, I’m going to have to ask you to demonstrate to me your Firearm.”

“Oh... uh, okay.”

Maki thought that the question was a bit forward. She also thought that, yeah, everyone has one, but... never mind. In her hand, a small sphere of pastel pink appeared and subsequently burst itself into what looked like a small handgun. The handgun was also pastel pink, with a white line that went around the sides of it that spiked at a rhythm like an ECG.

“This is my Firearm. I- It’s called Soul Burst. I know it looks kind of lame now, b- but it gets more powerful the more emotional I become.”

“Would you mind getting emotional, then?”

“Well, it’s, uh... it’s not that simple. It needs to be natural, y’know?”

The Captain laid back a bit in his chair.

“So, you’re telling me we need to get you to become emotional?”

Soul Burst’s ECG line became a bit faster.

“U- Uh... yes?”

“So, let’s say you become really embarrassed. What happens?”

“Well... Soul Burst tends to get really powerful when that happens.”

“Is that so?”

The line became a bit faster, and Soul Burst started to come apart.

“M- Mhm.”

“So what do you think would get you embarrassed? Giving a big presentation in front of others?”

Soul Burst became bigger. The line got faster.

“Going to a party where you don’t know any of the people!?”

Soul Burst became longer. The line got even faster.

“Or maybe...” 

The Captain, without looking down, quickly pulled out a picture of a boy...

“... You'd be embarrassed to know that I am aware of the fact that you have a crush on Jeremy Fichter from your math class!?”

It was at that moment that Soul Burst fully reformed itself from a small handgun to a full-on missile launcher with a line spiking incredibly rapidly that fired a massive burst of pink energy under the echo of a flustered Maki going ‘That information was personal-!’ and blew a hole through the room, giving a view to the outside and showing that they were, in fact, fairly high up.

“A-K. Fix the wall, please.”

“Of course, Captain.”

The robot, apparently named A-K, immediately repaired the wall with some sort of beam.

“Please excuse me for having to go to such drastic measures, Miss Mai-Dearest. It’s just that I needed to obtain a grasp of your power. Thank you.”

Maki did not respond, as her entire face was a deep red and she seemed to be trapped in a world of her own embarrassment.

“... Yes. I understand. You may leave now.”

Slowly, Maki rose up, still red, and walked out of the room. In the other room, the boy in the middle was still talking about god-knows-what, and Maki collapsed in her chair.

A-K pokes his head out again.

“Daniel,” he said, “It’s your turn.”

Daniel immediately stopped talking and, seeing his change to shine, promptly jumped out of his seat and walked confidently to the door. Daniel was, physically, very in shape. He had fair skin and wore a black business casual suit over a white undershirt, complete with black suspenders and a necktie adorned with patterns of silver rose petals and sparkles. His left breast pocket had a silver rose embroidered onto it, and his black belt and brown dress shoes made him look like quite the dandy. He had gorgeous dark-brown eyes, a perfect smile and pitch-black hair that went down his neck... say for one part that went down between his eyes that was a golden blonde. On the top of his head rested a black fedora, and surrounding him were small, glowing diamonds. Sparkly.

Sparkles also seemed to follow wherever he went, including into the now hole-less room with the Captain.

“Hello there, Mr. Nightbright. Please, take a seat.”

“Oh, my pleasure.”

Daniel sat down, putting one leg onto the other, and putting his hands away from each other in a stylish pose.

“My name is Captain Ammo-“

“Captain Ammo Shotglock, who was one of the commanding officers in the Pistolan Civil War and one of Earth’s greatest defenders! Truly an honor to meet you face-to-face, sir.”

“... Yes. And, thank you. Now then, your name is-“

“Daniel Nightbright, age sixteen, birthday June thirtieth, youngest son of the Nightbright family, member of the prestigious Nightbright Private Academy of Excellence and voted ‘Number One Prettiest Boy in America’ by World Style Magazine.”

The Captain said nothing for a moment, and only looked at Daniel, who, again, has a satisfied smirk on his face.

“... Well. I’m glad all of our information is correct. Now, Daniel, I’m going to need you to demonstrate your Firearm for us.”

“Oh, of course~!”

Daniel shot up from his seat and seemed to do a flip of some kind, landing perfectly upright with his hand pulling his hat down on one side while the other hand reached upward. In that hand, a small vortex of protruding darkness and beaming light spiraled into itself until it formed a pitch-black shot rifle with pale white etchings of a rose and ‘Cette belle fleur...’ in cursive on the side. The rifle seemed to shine brightly, as if made out of a black gemstone, and reflected brightly and Daniel grabbed it from the air and held it in front of himself.

“I call my Firearm Nova Noir! Beautiful, isn’t it~?”

The Captain took a moment before responding.

“... Yes, Mister Nightbright, it’s quite something. Now if you would please-“

“Oh, but that’s not even the best part!”

Daniel took Nova Noir in both hands, spun around and shot a pitch-Black bullet at the wall behind them. The bullet hole looked as though it was spinning, and seemed to engulf the area it had been shot into.

“Do you see my Nova Noir’s amazing ability~? I can shoot black hole-like vortices and control them! Impressive, no~?”

“Yes, Mister Nightbright, very-“

“Yes, it is, isn’t it? I don’t mean to brag, but Nova Noir’s amazing ability has led me to become top of my class- nay, top of my *school* in performance! You’d honestly be surprised at the number of people who have asked for my autograph after they saw me...”

As Daniel kept rambling, the vortex Noir Nova had shot continued to grow noticeably bigger to the point where it began pulling everything in the office towards it, including Daniel himself. Despite this, Daniel kept talking and talking, and the vortex became bigger and bigger until it looked like Daniel was about to be swallowed by it until-

“... but, I digress.”

And the vortex went away.

The Captain, who was notably closer to the front of the room than before, spoke again while regaining his posture.

“Well, thank you for the demonstration, Mister Nightbright. You may go now.”

Daniel jauntily walked out of the room, satisfied with the impression he had made, and sat back down with another one of those satisfied grins his face seemed to love to do.

A-K poked his head out one more time.

“Surururu, please step in.”

It came to a surprise to Maki that A-K called a third name, as she did not remember a third person being there. But as the woman wearing a short-sleeved, baggy pajama pants, blue-green-white plaid patterned pajama pants, grey slippers, slightly crooked black prescription glasses and with messy purple hair that went down to her knees slowly slumped out of her desk and into the other room, Maki realized she did look a bit familiar. She was just quiet, Maki supposed.

In reality, the woman named Surururu had not been quiet. She had been asleep the entire time, and immediately went back to sleeping as soon as she got into the other room.

“Welcome, Ms. Rurururu. My name is...”

Surururu was still asleep.

“... my name is...”

Still.

“... Miss Surururu?”

Suddenly Surururu, whose head had been over the top of the chair, spoke.

“Just call me Suru. It saves everyone time.”

The Captain was relieved.

“Yes, well, Miss Suru, my name is Captain Ammo Shotglock, the leader of this-“

Which is when Suru fell back into sleep.

“-organization.”

There was a short time wherein not much happened, say for Suru continuing to sleep and the Captain being unable to do his job.

“I think you should just go ahead with it, Sir.” A-K said, not wanting to spend hours on this unprofessional-looking narcoleptic. The Captain sighed.

“Fine. Your name is Surururu Rurururu, age seventeen, female, birthdate October twenty-second and currently attending Saint Heldia Public School, correct?”

“Yeah.” Suru said, not looking up.

“Well, Miss Suru, I’m going to ask that you please demonstrate for us your Firearm.

Suru slowly raises one of her arms up, but not her hand, as green bolts of electricity sparked more and more intensely until they eventually formed a brightly-multicolored object which appeared to be an alien ray gun you’d find packaged with a child’s toy. It had five muzzles in the shape of a star, and five triggers for seemingly each finger.

“I call it Green Star. It lets me shoot these green balls which I can change the texture and molecular construct of.”

She then fired from the center muzzle, shooting out a shiny, green ball that stuck to the floor.

“Very impressive, Miss Suru. Would you please give us more examples?”

Suru did not.

“... I see. Thank you for your time, Miss Suru. You may leave.”

Which is when Suru, once again, slumped out of the chair and into the first room, wherein she promptly fell asleep as soon as she sat down again.

After a couple minutes, the Captain and A-K walked into the room the other three were in. The Captain was even taller than he had looked.

“Please excuse me for making you all wait, and thank you for coming to meet me here. I’ve evaluated you all myself, and have deemed you all worthy candidates of earning the title you were offered.”

Maki sat up a bit. Daniel’s smirk became greater. Suru was still asleep.

“Maki Mai-Dearest, Daniel Nightbright and Surururu Rurururu! You three will become the Twenty-Third Generation Rookie Members of the Team Responsible for Irradiating Goons and Greater Evils Respectively, or for short, TRIGGER!”

Maki became excited. Daniel’s sparkles shine brighter. Suru was still asleep.

“We are a government-supported special operations task force dedicated to protecting the general public from criminals of all kinds, world-ending or otherwise! Are you up to the task!?”

Maki and Daniel both stood up and said, “I am!”

The Captain clenched his fist.

“Good! Because your first mission...

Starts now!”

TO BE CONTINUED


	3. Episode 2 - Mission One

-11:30 AM, January 1st, 2111-

“N- Now? As in, now now?”

Only around two seconds ago had Captain Ammo Shotglock, leader of the Team Responsible for Irradiating Goons and Greater Evils Respectively, also known as TRIGGER, informed the Twenty-Third Generation Rookie Members of the aforementioned task force that their first mission would be happening ‘now.’ Only around one second ago had Maki Mai-Dearest, one of the new members of TRIGGER, asked if he meant ‘now’ as in ‘now now.’

“Yes,” the Captain responded, “Now now.”

“I- Isn’t that a little... I dunno, sudden?”

“Most disasters are.”

“We’re handling a disaster!?”

“If you consider a mall robbery to be a disaster.”

Maki did not, in fact, consider a mall robbery to be classified as a ‘disaster,’ but had no chance to clarify this, as a high-pitched yell was suddenly heard in the room, which everyone quickly turned to find the source of.

It was Daniel.

“A mall~!? How wonderful!”

Daniel seemed to be occupied in a world of rose-colored daydreams and flashy hand motions.

“Ah, a mall... the most wonderfully busy places in the world~! Think of all the people who will see me, all of the people who will be able to witness my style and finesse at bearing arms! This truly is a wonderful-“

“Actually, Daniel, the mall has been evacuated.”

Daniel stopped in place for a minute, a pleased, open smile still on his face, to only continue pirouetting around the room in his own sparkly wonderland.

“If it’s just mall robberies, then why has the entire place been evacuated?” Asked Suru, who had somehow managed to bring in a thick blanket at some point and was currently wrapped in it.

“Good observation, Suru,” noted the Captain. “It is true that robberies are not usually means for evacuation, but the one doing the robberies is an unregistered criminal with a seemingly dangerous Firearm we don’t know the full capabilities of. It’s your job to find him and detain him. Understood?”

“Yes, Captain.” Answered Maki and Suru. Daniel was currently doing a triple-axel in the back.

“Good. Before you all leave, however, I’d like you to turn your attention to this.” The Captain pressed a button on a remote he had retrieved from his front shirt pocket, revealing an opening in the room that contained three outfits that matched the heights and specifications of the three rookies, with A-K standing with his arms behind his back next to them.

“These outfits will be your official TRIGGER operation gear. They tailor to your specific needs and match your likes and attitudes as we observed in the interviews.”

“You were able to make costumes for us just by spending a few minutes in an interview?”

“I pride myself on my functions, Miss Mai-Dearest. I’ve taken many classes on clothing design, you know.”

Maki prepared herself for some kind of large, tactical, armor-like gear… something that would be hard to move around in. Still, she supposed it was best, at least for the…

… Huh.

Maki found that, instead of any sort of suits, their ‘outfits’ were identical to what they had already been wearing. She blinked a few times in confusion.

“Th… This is just what we’re wearing now.”

A-K nodded.

“Well, yes. I can’t come up with entirely new designs in a matter of seconds. That’s logistically improbable.”

Maki was silent, but, in a way, happy that she didn’t have to put on anything too cray. Daniel shrieked in the back.

“Oh, this is absolutely perfect~!! Merci, A-K! Merci beaucoup!”

Daniel hugged the robot. A-K didn’t do anything, because he was a robot not programmed for this kind of thing. Still, he appreciated it.

Suru was asleep on the floor. Who knows if she’d even change at all.

The Captain started to walk away from where he was standing and out of the room.

“Put them on and leave immediately. I’ll prepare a ride for you shortly.”

Maki somewhat hesitantly took her... erm, gallant attire down from the stand and left to go put it on. When she came back in, she had to spend around a minute urging Suru to do the same, which still took around three minutes to do after she had left the room. But, after their costumes were all on, they left the room to complete their mission.

It turned out the mall that was being robbed was only a block away, so they ended up just running (or, in Suru’s case, walking very slowly, collapsing and being dragged along via a wagon) to the point of interest.

“Is this the place?” Maki said, catching her breath in front of the tall building.

“Actually, it’s The Plazé. Pronounced Pla-ce. It’s quite the establishment, including various clothing stores, eateries, a theater...” Daniel continued his rambling, to which Maki payed no mind to it, as she already found it impossible to actually keep up with. She (and by extension, Suru) entered the mall, to which Daniel still followed, continuing to talk about the second floor windows or something of that nature. Eventually, however, his talking slowed down and eventually stopped to observe a strange sight:

The mall was completely, one-hundred percent empty. 

“I know the Captain said that this place would be evacuated by the time we got here, but... this is just plain c-creepy.”

“Yes.” Daniel said, nervously, “It is a bit... unsettling, isn’t it?”

“It’s weird being in a mall with no people in it... and we don’t even know where the criminal is.”

“Oh, he’s right there.”

A hand popped out of the blankets, pointing behind them, to which Maki and Daniel both looked to find a man on the other side of the room wearing complete scuba gear stopped and looking at them with a pile of money in his hands.

For a few moments, Maki was stunned, made a few sporadic gestures that noises that sounded like they were going to start a sentence but never did, until she eventually mustered up all of her courage into a strong, “YOU!”

Daniel sprang up and started sprinting towards the criminal, probably saying something about how His criminal ways were at an end thanks to the overwhelming strength and quick-thinking of Daniel Nightbright, but this motion took second place in terms of focus, as the man in scuba gear summoned what looked like a water gun, shot below him, creating a small puddle, to which he dropped into and disappeared, creating a soft sound that could only be described as a ploomp. The sudden lack of a visible criminal and a soft ploomp-like sound caused Maki to spring up and stop Daniel a few inches in front of the puddle.

“Hold on, Daniel! Don’t go into that puddle!”

“Why not?”

“Who knows what’d happen if you do! You might not be able to escape, o-or he could attack you, or maybe you wouldn’t be alone in there, who knows! The point is, it’s dangerous!”

“Well, I still believe a thorough investigation of this oddity is important, no?”

Which is exactly when the great white shark popped out of the puddle.

It was incredibly sudden, to say the least, and the sudden sight of a great white shark coming out of a mysterious puddle was enough to make Soul Burst turn into a bazooka of some kind and shoot out a large blast of energy, hitting the shark clean in the stomach and knocking back Daniel and Maki to the other end of the room, covering them in a mess of rubble. A moment later, Daniel composed himself and started looking at the now wobbling-around shark on the floor in front of him.

“Well... I suppose we now know the terror of this strange scuba-man. But, no matter! My Nova Noir shall-“

Daniel was unable to complete his sentence properly, as a small group of piranhas had suddenly jumped out and but him all over the back, to which Daniel reacted to with a sort of NYAAAgHgHaaAAANgghFfYA kind of cry and started ungracefully running around in circles, attempting to remove the ravenous fish from his flesh, only succeeding when Suru pulled herself out of the covers and shot one of Green Star’s bullets at them, which Suru had made incredibly sticky, trapping all of them in a green ball on the ground. Maki walked forward after seeing the commotion, looked around, began sweating, looked around more, sweat more, and letting the process repeat a few times before she eventually exclaimed, “THEY’RE ALL AROUND US!”

After that, Maki grabbed both Daniel and Suru, quickly running up to the second floor while various aquatic lifeforms (including, but not limited to a blue tang, sea slug, lobster, octopus, at least three jellyfish and a potato grouper) fell around them, all attempting to attack the group in one way or another. After making it to the second floor, Maki hid herself and the others behind a table in the hallway.

“What do we do now?” Asked Suru, whose eyes were closed while looking for her glasses. Daniel lifted his head over the table to look at a puddle on a nearby wall.

“I think it’s safe to assume that the criminal we’re after would have to be located somewhere in the water. Shall I go after him?”

“Y-Yeah, that’s what I thought too.” Maki replied, catching her breath. “I don’t think you should go into the water, though.”

However, Daniel was already gone, and as 

Maki frantically looked around for him, she caught a glimpse of him swan diving into a nearby puddle. She put her hands in her hair.

This, in simple terms, was very bad.

“We can probably work with this.”

Maki turned to find Suru, glasses now found but eyes still closed, sitting more upright than before.

“If that Daniel guy goes in there and can distract our ocean man, it’d probably lead to him having to come out of one of those puddles. I’ll focus on offense. You be on the lookout for whenever that guy pops out next.”

Maki was a little stunned that she heard such a long thought from Suru, but she did have a point.

“Yeah... yeah, that sounds like a good plan. Let’s go!”

Maki and Suru both walked away from the table, to which a very sudden giant squid responded to them by trying to swipe them with its tentacles. Suru managed to push Maki out of the way in time, slid under the tentacle herself, and shot a ball as hard as steel into the squid’s eye.

“Go on ahead. I’ll take care of this guy.”

Maki was, again, shocked at Suru’s apparent combat ability, but trusted her nonetheless. She then started running, looking around for any puddles and hoping that Daniel was doing okay.

Daniel was in an endless ocean, frantically chasing the man in diving gear, which was difficult because Daniel was in a tuxedo and the man was wearing diving gear, as hordes of big and small fish, crustaceans and the occasional unfriendly mammal chased him.

Daniel was understandably flustered, and the fact that he was running out of breath didn’t help the situation. He decided to go with the only thing he could think of: he shot out a vortex from Nova Noir in front of the robber, pulling Daniel towards him just enough so that he could grab onto him and close the vortex. After some struggling, the delinquent diver opened a hole just to shake off Daniel, but unfortunately the man failed to realize that he had opened up a puddle on the ceiling of the mall and was currently about to fall to his doom.

Daniel still, of course, hung on, as the word ‘doom’ did not apply to him nor his sparkly disposition.

Maki saw this, as it was frankly hard to miss, and tried to focus. This is it, she thought, This is gonna have to be the finishing blow! I can do this, I can do this!

She thought all of this while her knees shook uncontrollably, however, and Soul Burst still ended up becoming a heavy-duty weapon of some kind. Still, Maki was able to keep her cool just enough so that it wouldn’t accidentally fire, until her and the falling Daniel and diver were lined up, which in the span of half a second caused her to doubt herself and her abilities, realize that she was probably going to miss because of that earlier doubt, and accidentally fired Soul Burst at full power.

It hit the diver straight in the stomach, knocking off his facial gear to reveal orange hair, and was shot directly into the wall behind them. He remained in the wall for a moment, but then fell down onto the floor. All of the animals were then sucked back into the puddles, which then immediately vanished. 

This caused Suru to fall over and hit her head, as she had killed the squid earlier and was laying against it.

Daniel also fell, but did not notice, as he had actually lost consciousness right before exiting the water and had only managed to hold onto the criminal through sheer unconscious tenacity.

Maki laid down, let out a small ‘woo,’ and called the Captain.

“Good work, everyone.” Said the Captain, who appeared around two minutes afterward.

“The criminal’s name was Jim Pacific. He’s been using his Firearm, Blue Way, to commit petty crimes for a while. Never anything like a robbery, though.”

Maki and Daniel were both sitting on a bench as the Captain explained all of this, Daniel with a grin on his face that implied he was about to spring into another conversation with himself, and Maki looking down, exhausted. Suru was back in the wagon, once again covering herself in sheets.

“... I can tell you’re all tired. We’ll get you all quick medical evaluations and rides home.”

The Captain saluted them, one hand behind his back and the other in front of his forehead.

“You did a fine job today. I have no doubt you’ll become great officers and will make TRIGGER proud to have you.”

The Captain walked off, signaling A-K to do a medical checkup on the trio. And as A-K scanned them and applied bandages, ice, or whatever else, Daniel finally said something.

“You know, I think we did a great job.”

Maki looked at him.

“I mean, sure, it wasn’t by any means the prettiest operation, but we managed to catch the criminal in the end! Pretty splendid teamwork, even if I do say so myself.”

Maki smiled a bit.

“Yeah. I think so too.”

“Of course, I basically carried the whole operation. What would you two have done if I hadn’t gone after him when I did?”

Maki was silent for a moment.

“Yup, you did great, Daniel. Thanks for that.”

“You’re quite welcome.”

A-K signaled to Maki that she was ready to leave, so she got up and started walking towards the exit.

“Hey, Maki.”

Suru called her without moving.

“Oh, do you need something, Suru?”

“I wanted to celebrate becoming friends. Got you a present.”

“R- Really? That’s so sweet of you, Suru! Thanks!”

Suru then replied by sticking out her hand, which had a giant squid’s eye in a plastic bag looking straight at Maki. The suddenness of it made Maki yelp, made Soul Burst fire straight into the eye, and caused the eye to splatter weirdly-colored goo around all the two.

“...Suru, did you just want to see the eyeball blow up?”

“Mhm.”

“Were you at least serious about the new friends part?”

“Mhm.”

Maki sighed and smiled a bit.

“Good.”

Which led Maki to once again make her way to the exit, and this time even succeed, but not before hearing Daniel speak one more time.

“See? Perfect teamwork!”

TO BE CONTINUED


	4. Episode 3 - It All Comes Back to Gangsters

-12:00 PM, January 11th, 2111-

It was a Monday.

Usually that statement is met with negative connotations, but for Maki, it was simply another day and she really didn’t understand why people made such a big deal over it. It was a good day, even; clear skies, cool temperature, and Maki was currently heading to her third period math class.

“Oh, hey, Maki.”

Maki turned and stopped in the hallway to the sight of Jeremy Fichter, her classmate, waving at her with a soft smile.

Maki thought he was insanely attractive.

“O-Oh! Hey, Jeremy! H- How are you!?”

“I’m alright. As good as I can be on a Monday, I guess. Y’know?”

“Yup! Gotta... hate those Mondays!”

Maki was trying her absolute hardest not to let Soul Burst suddenly fire, as she did not want to give her crush various internal injuries.

Jeremy, meanwhile, chuckled a bit.

“Yeah. Anyway... we should be gettin’ to class, yeah? See you there.”

“Yeah! S-See ya!”

And Jeremy walked off.

Maki’s immediate response to this was to sigh heavily in relief and wipe her forehead of sweat, thankful that she didn’t let-

“Maki.”

-Soul Burst fired a small bullet into the ground, creating a small hole beside Maki and a bit of smoke rising out of a hole. Maki turned to see who had tapped her suddenly on the back, only to find Suru in her TRIGGER uniform.

“S-Suru!? Do you go to this school?”

“Nah. I’m here because of business.”

“Business?”

“Yeah. Daniel’ll be here in a minute.”

And as Maki prepared to ask what Suru meant, she heard a voice getting steadily louder from down the hall, until Daniel, also in uniform, gathering smoke at his shoes, slid across the hall from where Maki was and looked directly at her with a sparkly grin.

“Maki! There you are!”

Maki did not move. Only stared and became confused as Daniel started running full speed in her direction.

“We don’t have time to waste! We have a mission to take care of!”

Maki still attempted to stay still, even as Daniel plowed through the other people in the halls to get to her. After a few seconds, Daniel got to her, but instead of simply talking to her there he grabbed her and Suru without stopping and, still at full speed, jumped straight out of the large window behind them and fell into a car with an open roof.

“Good to see you again, Miss Mai-Dearest, and please excuse Daniel’s way of getting you here. I attempted to convince him not to, but he insisted.”

“Aah, but you didn’t expect it, did you, Maki~? It must have been truly riveting to be swept up in my arms and into the air!” Daniel crosses his legs and put on his signature satisfied grin on his slightly cut-up face.

It took a moment for Maki to realize that she was, in fact, in a car; a white, shiny car that was cool and had comfortable seats, with Daniel and Suru both to her right, Suru fast asleep and Daniel still sparkling and chuckling to himself; A-K in front of her driving the car; and that the car she was in was, in fact, driving.

It took a few moments after that one for Maki to realize that she didn’t really know what was going on.

“W-Why... What’s going on?”

“Did Mister Nightbright not tell you?”

Maki looked over to Daniel, who was grinning and softly smelling a rose.

“No.”

“There’s been another robbery.” Said Suru, who was slumped over in her chair to the point her seatbelt wouldn’t be on anymore even if she had buckled it in the first place.

“Another one? But there was just one yesterday!”

“Miss Mai-Dearest, robberies happen fairly often. Besides, it’s good practice for all of you.”

Maki backed up into her seat a small bit. A-K turned his head a small bit to look at Maki.

“Please do not worry, Miss Mai-Dearest. This mission will be completed and you’ll all have the rest of the day off.”

“Yeah, Maki, and even if you die, Daniel’ll avenge you.”

“It’s true~!”

Maki gave a small smile.

“Thanks, guys... and, yeah! Yeah, we just have to get this one mission done. We did this yesterday, it’ll be fine!”

And they did. Around forty-five minutes after this interaction, TRIGGER’s Twenty-Third Generation Rookies arrested a woman wearing a sundress and cleats at a sports clothing store, were commended for their brave work, and went home.

And then it happened again on Tuesday.

And again on Wednesday.

And then, finally, on Thursday, after arresting a man wearing nothing but a speedo and covered in sticky-notes did Maki finally say something.

“Captain, do robberies like this happen every day?”

“No, not usually... unless...”

The Captain put his hand on his chin and turned to look at A-K.

“A-K, has there been anything these robberies have had in common? Possibly an insignia on the perpetrators?”

“No, Sir.”

“Oh, I might know something about that!”

Daniel, whose face was covered in bandages from four consecutive days of tackling, jumping, pirouetting and otherwise, shot up from seemingly nowhere and shone brightly while holding up five black slips of paper with white numbers on it and a red, smiling face scribbled onto the left sides of all of them. “These were on all of them at some point or another, and I kept them!”

“Daniel, keeping evidence without permission is a violation of code. Why... did you do that?”

“I thought they were fashionable~!”

The Captain silently stared at Daniel’s sparkling, bandaged face for a moment.

“Fair enough. You may keep them after we’re done analyzing them.”

“Why, thank you, Captain.~”

Daniel handed the Captain the slips of paper. After a short while, the Captain handed one of the slips to A-K.

“These slips all have the same address written on them. A-K, identify where they lead to.”

While A-K was doing that, the Captain squinted down to try and read the messy handwriting that was on the back of all of them.

“REMEMBER, AFTER YOU WRITE THIS STUFF DOWN SOMEWHERE, THROW AWAY THIS PAPER. WE DON’T HAVE THE BUDGET TO MAKE THESE SELF DESTRUCTING OR WHATEVER SO I’M TRUSTING ALL OF Y’ALL TO TAKE CARE OF IT. I’LL GET MAD IF YOU DON’T. SERIOUSLY. I WILL.”

By the time he had made out the whole thing, A-K had properly identified the location written on the slip.

“Captain, these slips of paper direct towards an out-of-commission warehouse in the outskirts of the city.”

The Captain turned around to look at A-K. “I see. Then I guess it’s time we take care of the-“

“Boss!”

In a large, poorly-lit building that was even more dark than usual because of the fact that it was night, a small, cylinder-shaped object flew through, calling for someone named ‘Boss.’

“What is it, Joey!?”

Sitting at a table near the center of the building was a woman with short, pink hair, black leggings, sunglasses and a large, silver coat that was at least two sizes too big for her and entirely too fluffy to wear indoors, who had been looking at a mess of papers on a table which were only dimly lit by a cheap-looking table lamp. The woman, presumably the Boss, quickly looked behind her when Joey had called her name.

“We got trouble, Boss! Speedo was taken outta action!”

“Speedo too!? Come on!”

The Boss slammed her head on the table and put her hands in her hair.

“Why can’t we get this right!? We went to so many teamwork counseling classes! Were all of those trust falls for nothing!?”

“Aw, it’s aight, Boss. We can get the cash ourselves!”

The Boss lifted her head up after a while, took a deep breath, and got up.

“You know what? You’re right. It’s just robberies! It’ll be fine. Start making the preparations, Joey. We’re going out.”

“On it, Boss! Oh, there’s also one more thing I gotta tell you. There’re some intruders.”

“What do you mean-“

And as the Boss turned around once again to face Joey, she saw Maki, Daniel and Suru all behind him, looking at her, causing her to let out a loud yelp and jump a bit. After a while of silence, the Boss cleared her throat, put her hands in her pockets and spoke up.

“So, you da ones who been takin’ out my goonies!?” Said the Boss, putting on a horribly fake accent you’d hear coming from a gangster film.

“What’s with the accent?” Asked Suru, being noticeably unamused by the horribly fake accent you’d hear in a gangster film. The Boss was taken back a bit by her bluntness, and stuttered a bit before speaking up again.

“A-Answer da question!”

Maki stepped forward.

“We’re the-“

Daniel elegantly jumped in front of her.

“We are the Twenty-Third Generation Rookies of the Team Responsible for Irradiating Goons and-“

“You think I’m scared of da fuzz!?”

Daniel, still midair, suddenly fell to the ground and looked at the Boss with a stare of pure malice.

“THE FUZZ!? DANIEL NIGHTBRIGHT IS NO LOWLY MOLD!”

Daniel pulled out Nova Noir and was fully prepared to fire a vortex and break the Boss down into nothing but atoms, but Maki had enough foresight to grab onto and detain the angry sparkle-man.

“D-Daniel, ‘The Fuzz’ means the police! She’s not calling you a mold!... Wait, are we even the police? Suru, are we the police?”

And as Maki asked Suru that question, and as Suru shrugged, the Boss grew noticeably more and more agitated, until-

“Would ya idiots please take dis seriously!? You’re in da presence of a masta criminal and all ya can talk about is mold!?”

Everyone turned to look at the Boss, who had now slammed her foot onto the edge of her chair and put her arm onto her raised leg.

“The name’s Roxanne Rosegold, Gangsta Extraordinaire! Now, I don’t know how you found this place-“

“Oh, your friends all had those address slips on them.”

Roxanne had to stop for a moment before she started yelling incoherently about the fact that NO ONE EVER LISTENS, DO THEY?, kicked over the chair, walked away from the whole situation to sort out her anger by herself. After around fifteen seconds of Roxanne tiring herself out, she walked back to where she was standing originally, went back to her pose on the chair, and spoke up again.

“Let’s cut da-“

“Cut the accent.”

After around five seconds of an interrupted-once-again Roxanne silently staring at a closed-eye Suru with a look of Did these children seriously just walk into my base and interrupt me two times in a row, she quickly brought out a black revolver with white, messy drawings of skulls and humanoid figures surrounded by random strings of numbers and a messy, grinning face in red with big eyes and sharp teeth under the muzzle and shot Suru in the stomach.

For a moment, time seemed to slow down to a crawl as Maki and Daniel watched Suru fall back from the bullet, but quickly sped up again after realizing that she was not injured at all, her clothes were not damaged and the look on her face was one of mild annoyance directed at the fact that she was now falling and would eventually have to deal with that, and eventually did, and did so by letting gravity take her and keep her.

“Suru, a-are you okay!?”

“Oh, she’s fine, kid. I might not be able to say the same for you, though!”

Maki started looking back and forth between Roxanne and Suru.

“For... us?”

“JOEY! LET ‘EM HAVE IT!”

And as Roxanne’s call echoed throughout the building, the same face found on the slips and on Roxanne’s Firearm appeared on Suru’s shirt. Suddenly, Suru, seemingly pulled up by the center of her shirt, was pulled up to her feet. Maki’s face sunk into horror.

“No... do your bullets let you control anything you shoot!?”

Roxanne cackled as she once again summoned her Firearm, darkness seemingly covering her and her eyes glowing a sadistic red.

“It’s called Mafioso! Thanks to my bullet Joey, Little-Miss-Smart-Talk is nothin’ more than one of my lackeys!”

“You wish.” Said Suru, in a very non-lackey like manner.

Maki turned to Suru with a glimmer in her eyes.

“Suru! You’re not a zombie!”

“Nah.”

Maki summoned Soul Burst and pointed it at Roxanne.

“Great! Now all we have to do is take her out and we can all go-“

Suddenly, Suru shot forward, her shirt dragging her half-asleep body towards and eventually onto Maki. As soon as Suru was on Maki, Suru began to flail somewhat on Maki. The face on the shirt, Joey, cackled.

“I might’a not of gotten control of ya friend here, but I still gots her shirt!”

Mind you, these attacks were not painful in the slightest, but having a woman who was at least a full foot-and-a-half taller than you flail her chest onto you was still very distracting and, for Maki, very uncomfortable. This uncomfortableness caused Soul Burst to start firing small shots in random directions, causing Maki to freak out more, which made the bullets fire more rapidly, until eventually Maki was in complete freak-out mode and pink bullets were ricocheting around the entire building.

“D-DANIEL!! HEY, COULD YOU MAYBE TAKE CARE OF THIS?? HELP ME OUT HERE A BIT??”

No response.

“DANIEL!?”

Still no response.

“DANIEL!? DANIEL!?”

After calling out Daniel’s name several more times and hearing no response, Maki eventually fell into complete despair. Trembling, Maki began to fall to her knees, until-

“And now, ladies and gentlemen, the moment you’ve all been waiting for!”

Maki and Suru both looked up, though Suru’s eyes were mostly closed and she soon turned her head down again to sleep more, and tried to identify where the familiar voice was coming from.

“It’s the Prince of Your Heart, the Supernova, the Silver Rose himself-“

Maki eventually identified a figure standing on an iron pole directly above Roxanne.

“The one!”

He jumped down.

“The only!”

He summoned his Firearm as he flew downward to Roxanne.

“Daniel Nightbright!”

Daniel shot a small vortex in front of Maki and quickly closed it, pulling her away from Suru and letting Suru fall to the ground. He then turned around in midair (incredibly stylishly, of course) and shot a bigger vortex near Roxanne. Roxanne kick-flipped off of her chair, and, still in midair, shot the other five bullets in Mafioso’s chamber into two of the papers on the table, the table itself, the lamp and the chair, landed on the ground and sprinted away.

“Marky! Davie! Johnny! Philly! Richie! Take care of these bastards!”

The grinning face appeared on all of these objects, and in unison yelled out, “You got it, Boss!”

Davie (the table) knocked away Daniel’s bullet, causing it to get knocked into a pole to the left of the action. The vortex opened, and everyone began to be pulled towards the pole.

“Dang, I need to get-“ Joey was about to make an escape, but Suru shot a sticky Green Star bullet at her own feet. Maki, who was running away, turned to look at Suru.

“Suru! Are you gonna be okay!?”

“Yeah, I’ll be fine.”

And as Suru and Joey were slowly being pulled closer to the vortex, Maki was running, and running, trying to get closer to Daniel and the action.

“Maki!”

That is, until she heard Daniel, who looked like he was preparing for something on the ground, called her name.

“If you would be so kind as to take care of these annoyances...”

Daniel looked up with a flashy grin.

“... I’ll take care of the bigger issue!”

Daniel jumped, higher than Maki expected him to be able to, and landed on Davie, the table, ran across him, and jumped; quickly but delicately stepped on Johnny and Philly, the papers; hopped off of them, landed precisely on top of Marky, the lamp, and hopped off of him; and finally kicked off of Richie, the chair, stopping the vortex and doing an intricate combination of spins, flips and poses until effortlessly landing on the ground, sprinting, and shooting a small vortex in front of him and immediately destroying it to fly faster towards Roxanne. He eventually appeared in front of her, and immediately turned around to hit her across the stomach with Noir Nova. The blow connected, sending Roxanne flying backwards and into a wall in the back. Meanwhile, Maki was easily keeping the Mafioso at bay, as they weren’t more than objects and her bullets were a lot more powerful than whatever materials they happened to be made of.

“See that, ruffian!? Without your gang, you’re nothing!” Daniel seemed to be going a bit villainous as he yelled at Roxanne, probably still upset about her accidentally calling him a mold.

“You know what, kid... you got a point.”

Roxanne got off of the wall, coughing, breathing heavily, and pointed Mafioso into the air.

“YO, EVERYBODY! IT’S TIME WE PULL OUT THE BIG BOY!”

Suddenly, all of the objects turned to face Roxanne, cackled in a sort of disjointed legion, and fell to the ground as the bullets possessing them flew back into the Firearm.

“You guys wanna see a magic trick?”

Suddenly, Mafioso started reforming itself into a large bazooka, a grinning face near and around the large muzzle, which Roxanne took and pointed to the ground.

“I wanna introduce you kids to my friend here! We like to call him...”

Roxanne fired a large shell that sank into the ground.

“Big Bill!”

As Roxanne rested on the enlarged Mafioso and looked at the three with an evil smile, the entire building began to shake violently. A deep, echoing cackle echoed throughout it, and the scenery from the broken windows began changing.

“Hey, uh... are we... going up!?”

The building was rising up from the ground, steadily getting faster, and was laughing maniacally all the while. It began shaking, the three lost their footing, and would have fallen out of a window and into their certain demise if not for the steel beam below them that they all grabbed onto by their fingers.

Maki looked out the window, and made a horrible discovery: the building was now very high up in the air, and was completely on its side.

“See why you shouldn’t mess with me now!?” Roxanne shouted, standing upright on a sideways beam.

“One slip up and it’s nothin’ but a big splat for all of you!”

“Hey, guys, if we all three die, who do you think’ll avenge us?” Suru asked, not seeming to be affected by the situation at hand.

“DO YOU THINK WE’RE GONNA DIE!?” Maki replied, very noticeably affected by the situation at hand.

“Of course not! The great Daniel Nightbright would never meet his demise in such an unclean place!... I must admit, however, that we are in quite the situation!”

Daniel laughed.

“DON’T SAY THAT!!”

Maki did not.

And as Maki looked out into the sky for what she thought might be the last time, she hoped for a miracle...

“BEAR FIST!”

And instead heard an incredibly loud shot, presumably from the ground, followed by a blindingly bright golden light passing upwards through the building.

Roxanne squinted and looked around.

“...The hell was-“

Suddenly, shining cracks spread throughout the building, engulfing the complex in a bright light before exploding into hundreds of pieces, a spectacle so sudden that the pieces all seemed to stay in the air, sparkling in the moonlight, for just a moment. Maki opened her eyes to witness a bright city in front of her, a view she had only imagined of in pictures, and felt content.

Until she realized that she was falling very quickly towards the ground, that is, and then began freaking out.

“THIS IS IT! THIS IS THE END! I HAD SO MANY THINGS I STILL WANTED TO DO!!”

Maki’s hands were clasped together tightly and her eyes were overflowing with tears as she hurdled towards the ground and Soul Burst fired in every direction. Daniel was having fun doing air somersaults in the back.

“Yo, Maki! Get calm! I got a plan!”

Maki looked behind her to see Suru looking at her with open eyes. It was the first time Maki had seen Suru’s eyes.

They were a bright yellow.

“Stop freakin’ out already! It’ll be fine!”

Maki looked at her, focused, and with a crooked look on her face, gave a thumbs up and said, O-Okay!

Suru turned to a still somersaulting Daniel and yelled.

“Daniel, how big can you make one of your black hole whatevers!?”

“Very!” He replied, still doing tricks.

“Shoot one and open it up below the rubble!”

“Yes ma’am~!”

He did a quick series of flips and eventually went back to being upright, summoned Noir Nova, and shot a large bullet below the falling rubble. A massive, pitch-black vortex appeared below all of them. Immediately after this, Suru summoned Green Star and shot a bullet from all five of its muzzles; a thin, green light connected all of them, and formed a massive green bullet that landed on top of the vortex and began to sank.

“Maki! Roxanne is below us! You need to fire Soul Burst into her!”

“But I-“

“I know you’re scared, dummy! Just do it anyway!”

Maki looked at Suru for a moment, wiped the tears from her eyes, and used her fear to create a large missile launcher and aimed below her. She found Roxanne, spazzing out in the air as she had absolutely no idea what was going on...

... and fired.

The shot hit Roxanne directly, sending her into the large bullet, which Maki had turned gelatinous. Roxanne flew straight through the bullet but was stopped at the middle, effectively detaining her. Suru signaled to Daniel to close the vortex, which he did, sending the gelatinous bullet down and wobbling greatly on impact. The pieces of rubble all fell into the blob as well, having only a handful of pieces land into the surrounding area.

Maki, Daniel and Suru were all still falling, though.

Suru was asleep, Maki was flustered and Daniel had went back to doing tricks.

It was a fairly grim situation, until A-K flew in and grabbed all of them, placing them gently on the ground.

After a minute of terrified mumbling, Maki opened her eyes to see that she was once again on solid ground.

“Are... are we alive!? Did we make it!?”

“You did indeed, Team! Bravo!”

The Captain was in front of them, giving them a round of applause.

“You all did an excellent job! Your teamwork was impeccable!”

“Oh, it was, wasn’t it~!?”

Daniel spun in front of the Captain.

“Was my grand entrance not the most grandeur show you’ve ever seen!? Oh, it was wonderful~!!”

“Yes, You did a great job, Daniel! The rest of you as well! Suru, your...”

Suru was face-down on the ground, snoring loudly.

“... right. Maki! I know you must have been scared, and I’m immensely proud of you for finding the courage to help your team.”

Maki quickly stood up, and have a trembling salute.

“Th-Th-Th-Thank you, S-Sir!”

The Captain motioned toward the large blob to his left.

“We’ll take over things from here. Get in the car, everyone. A-K will take you home.”

Before the Captain could walk off, however, Maki went up to him.

“Please wait a minute, Sir! What... was that light that made the building explode?”

The Captain chuckled a bit and put his hand on the back of his head.

“Oh, that was me. Was it impressive?”

Maki’s jaw dropped.

“That was you!?”

“Sure was! I know I look old, but I still got some kick in me!”

And once again, the Captain walked off, and Maki was too shocked and tired to ask any other questions. She helped drag Suru into the car, buckled herself in, and took a nap.

“Well... it seems that Rosegold failed. That’s what I get for putting my trust into someone for hire, I suppose. No matter. Your little ones will be turned into nothing but ash soon enough... Captain Ammo Shotglock.”

TO BE CONTINUED


	5. Episode 4 - Camping

-09:00 AM, January 31st, 2111-

“I thank you all for coming today.”

In the white room where this sort of thing tends to happen, the members of the 23GT sat in front of A-K and Captain Ammo Shotglock. Beside them were bags varying in sizes and patterns; Maki had a backpack with a floral print; Daniel had a large suitcase made of shiny leather; Suru had a roughed-up duffel bag.

Maki was the first to speak up.

“Of course, Captain... but, um, why did we need to pack for a special assignment?”

A shadow appeared on the Captain’s face as he looked downward at the floor.

“The reason I had you all pack supplies is because, for the next three days, we will be...”

The Captain suddenly raised his head up again with a large smile.

“... going camping!”

Maki smiled.

“Oh!”

Maki’s smile partially turned into a look of confusion.

“... Wait, why are we going-“

“Ah, camping! A tad odd as an assignment, but certainly a requisite for having my light shine down on all of the inhabitants of this world... including woodland creatures!”

As Daniel became lost in his own fantasies of becoming the shining king of the forest, a half-asleep Suru raised her hand.

“How big will the tents be?”

“You’ll all have your own, if you prefer.”

“Great.”

Suru promptly put her head back down.

“Yes, and to answer your question, Maki,”

The Captain looked over to her.

“The reason we’re going camping is to start your training in an advanced technique that will be important for you to use when more powerful dangers begin to arise during your time as an agent.”

The three stopped what they were doing after the Captain said this and peered at him with intimidated stares. After a couple of seconds, Suru spoke up.

“Huh?”

The Captain put his hands behind his back and signaled for A-K to elaborate.

“This exercise in ‘camping’ will allow the three of you to grasp a better understanding of each other’s lives. This will not only improve the teamwork among you, but will begin to prepare you in using special ability known as Linking Firearms.”

Again, Suru spoke.

“Huh?”

“As Firearms are an extension of one’s own psyche,” he continued, “it is possible to become so in-sync with another’s mind that the two Firearms can combine and create an all-new, more powerful one. Do you understand?”

Silence.

“Huh?”

“You’ll pick up on it, don’t worry.”

The Captain grabbed his things from behind his desk and began walking towards the door.

“Follow me, team. The mission begins now!”

After Daniel exited the room doing a sort-of pirouette motion, a confused and mildly concerned Maki woke up Suru and followed behind Daniel.

Suru eventually followed as well, albeit at a very slow pace.

After a long car ride that involved the Captain humming along to the songs that came on the radio, the team arrived at the gates of a seemingly endless amount of woodland, complete with rolling hills and an unimaginable number of tall, healthy trees. As the sun began to set, bright light shone down onto the group, causing the three to squint as they looked in awe at the forest in front of them.

“Captain.. do you own all of this!?”

“Correct!”

The Captain thrust his arms out, almost as if presenting the forest to the world.

“This two-hundred and fifty acre wide forest was purchased by TRIGGER as official training grounds. It’s quite beautiful, if you ask me!”

“Neat.”

Suru began to walk into the woods, with the Captain and A-K beside her. After a few moments of having a dropped jaw, Maki walked quickly to catch up to the others.

“Hmm... two-hundred and fifty acres wide means that this is at least eighty acres wider than the land we own... impressive!”

With a grin, Daniel followed the rest into the forest.

After Daniel caught up to the group, the Captain and A-K went on ahead to find a good place to spend the night. After the three of them continued to walk forward for a few moments, it dawned on Maki that it was the first time the three of them had been together without having to fight a life-threatening criminal, so she thought she would make conversation.

“So... have either of you guys ever gone camping?”

“I have not!”

Daniel put his hand up into the air, as if he was reciting the key line in a Shakespeare play.

“My father has always said that the clothes I wear are much too expensive for me to spend extended amounts of time near the dirt. I must say, I’m quite excited to see what sleeping in a tent will be like!”

“Where I live, we’re kind of camping all the time.”

Maki looked over to Suru.

“Do you... not have a nice home?”

“Eh? Nah, nah, it’s just that we have so many people running around our house we never know who’s gonna be sleeping in a bed or on the floor.”

“Do you have a lot of siblings?”

“I’m the oldest of sixteen.”

Maki stopped dead in her tracks.

“Sixteen!?”

“Yeah. Seven brothers and eight sisters. Plus, my dads, but Michael’s usually at work.”

Maki shuddered.

“Geez... I couldn’t even imagine having to take care of that many-“

“I, too, have many siblings!” Daniel said, as he gleefully thrust himself back into the conversation.

“I’m the youngest of four! Two sisters and a brother. They’re all already trained special agents! Impressive, no~?”

“All of your siblings are TRIGGER members!?”

Daniel’s shining grin lowered a bit.

“Er... no. They’re all members of the Nightbright Industires Ranger Corps.”

“Ranger Corps?”

“Yes.”

Maki looked down and kicked the ground.

“That’s not a very fun name...”

Daniel put his hand up to his chin.

“My father was never really one for spectacle... ah well. Do you have any siblings, Maki?”

Maki seemed to jump a bit at the question, stayed silent for a second, and blushed.

“No... it’s just me and my mom. Oh, and my pet parakeet! His name is Edward.”

Daniel’s face lit up.

“You have a pet? Tell me, what’s it like?”

Maki’s eyes widened a bit.

“Daniel, have you never had a pet?”

“No. I’ve always wanted one, but my family says they’re all much too dirty!”

“Having a pet is like having a kid, except they grow up quicker and don’t have a job.”

Both Daniel and Maki stared at Suru for a moment before she continued.

“... I do like keeping them, though.”

They all kept walking in silence for a second before Daniel started to chuckle.

“I see. Perhaps I’ll begin keeping one in secret! How about... a mouse?”

Maki chuckled a bit as well.

“I’m pretty sure mice can be pretty high-maintenance, Daniel. I don’t think you can keep on in-“

“It’s decided, then! I’m going to go find a mouse! Ta-ta!”

And, with a flip, Daniel jumped into the woods, out of sight for both Maki and Suru.

“How much you wanna bet he’ll die?”

“He won’t die! He’s... uh... competent!”

And, almost immediately after Daniel jumped out of sight, the Captain and A-K jumped back in.

“We finished setting up- where’s Daniel?”

“He, uh, left to go find a mouse.”

“Why does he need a mouse?”

“He said he wanted a pet.”

The Captain stayed silent for a moment before uttering a soft ‘mhm.’

“A-K, could you please go and locate Daniel?”

“Certainly, Sir.”

And A-K vanished, presumably somewhere close to where Daniel was.

“While we wait for them to return, let’s start a fire, yes?”

As the three went to the campsite, the bright mid-afternoon sun began to fall to the horizon and turned a beautiful orange. By the time they got there, the three of them were starting to shiver from the lowering temperatures of the day, so Maki thought it to be best if she started the aforementioned fire as soon as she could.

“Okay, if I remember right, you take... one stick... and rub it against-“

What followed the word ‘against’ was the sound of a shot being fired from Green Star, the sound of an explosion of sudden flame, the sound of Maki yelling out of sudden fear, and the sound of a bullet from Soul Burst being fired directly into the air. After these events, Suru sat down in front of the newly-on-fire wood in front of her and held her hands out.

“It’s cold. I got impatient. Sorry.”

Still shaking from the fear, Maki fraily gave Suru a thumbs up.

“So, Cap,” Suru said, “what was that ‘Linking Firearms’ thing you were talking about before?”

The Captain looked at the two of them with a smile.

“Ah, yes! I’m glad you asked! Linking Firearms is-“

Only to be met with a loudly snoring Suru laying on the ground.

“A-Ah. I see. Well. We’ll... review it later.”

The Captain looked down into his bag.

“Are either of you hungry?”

Seemingly without moving, Suru sat up again.

“Starving.”

Maki, shaking considerably less, signaled that she, too, could go for something to eat.

“Alright, then, let’s see what we’ve got...”

“A mushroom!”

Daniel, who had somehow become lost in the short amount of time he was separated from the rest of the group, was convinced that this forest was his final resting place and that he would die if he didn’t find any sort of food soon. So, when he found a mushroom growing out of the ground, he was understandably excited.

“Finally, sustenance! Perhaps... I can cut it out of the ground with-“

“That particular species of fungi is highly venomous, Daniel. I highly advise you to avoid consuming it.”

The sudden sound of a robotic voice startled Daniel at first, causing him to jump, but was followed by sincere relief once he realized who had spoken to him.

“Oh, A-K! Thank the stars! You have no idea what this place is like...”

“I do, actually. I have been here many times.”

Daniel stared at the robot for a moment.

“Well then.”

Silence.

“Let us be off, no?”

And off Daniel went.

A-K went the opposite direction, however, which took Daniel a moment to notice and caused him to hurriedly walk back to the robot’s side.

“I must say, Sir Nightbright, I find it impressive you were able to cover so much ground on foot in such a short amount of time.”

Daniel began to sparkle.

“Ah, what can I say, A-K~? I am truly a wonder among men!”

“Indeed.”

As Daniel twirled behind A-K, his eyes caught a small, red flash somewhere to the left of them, and stopped mid-spin to investigate.

“Excuse me, A-K,” Daniel asked as he walked closer to where he saw the flash, “is there any chance of wildfires breaking out in this reserve?”

“A very small chance, yes.”

Daniel nodded.

“I see, I see... and, are we the only personnel here at this time?”

“Yes.”

Daniel nodded again.

“Yes... well, that is a bit concerning, because I believe I saw-“

Which is exactly when a large, flaming, lightning-fast figure rushed behind Daniel and rammed into A-K without stopping, causing him to fly off somewhere into the other side of the woods.

“Ah. Well, at least my suspicions have been confirmed!”

Daniel brought out Nova Noir and aimed it at the moving figure in front of him.

“Come at me, you beast! I, the great Daniel Nightbright, shall be your bitter end!”

While Daniel was actively partaking in his own flights of fancy, Maki, Suru and the Captain were all eating s’mores. Suddenly, Maki looked around.

“Hey... do you guys hear something?”

Suru, without opening her eyes, pointed to her right.

“Maki. Move over there.”

“Oh... uh, okay.”

Maki moved to the general area Suru was pointing towards and did nothing. Before she could speak up once again about the noise she thought she was hearing, a damaged A-K flew right between Maki and Suru and landed on the chest of the Captain.

“Oh, hello, Sir. I appear to be damaged.

The broken body of A-K crackled with sparks as his slightly distorted voice remained as calm as ever.

“Is he gonna be okay!?”

“A-K will be fine. Did you find Daniel?”

“Yes, Sir.”

A-K weakly pointed to the direction he flew in from.

“He is somewhere far-off in that direction. I set him on the path towards your location before I was attacked.”

The Captain gently put A-K down into the ground and stood up.

“Maki. Suru. We appear to be under attack from an enemy. I’m going to go find Daniel. Keep your guard up and do not leave this spot under any circumstances. Do you understand?”

Suru spoke for the both of them.

“Yeah.”

“Good. I’ll be back soon.”

The Captain crouched down, with the sound of metal parts clicking louder and louder, until he finally jumped high into the air with immeasurable force.

Meanwhile, Daniel was running very quickly from a large, fire-breathing snake-like creature. Its skin was black like charcoal, its eyes and mouth were a glowing mixture of red and orange, and its scales opened up to bursts of brilliant flames to chase Daniel even faster. A massive wildfire was growing wherever the snake went, and, by extension, wherever Daniel went; Daniel payed no mind to this, however, as he was currently moving as quickly as he possibly could from the increasingly fast monster chasing him.

This is it, he thought, this is how I’m going to die.

Immediately after thinking this, however, Daniel realized that, if he were to die here, it would be because something outshined him.

For Daniel, this would simply not do.

“YOU BELIEVE YOU CAN OUTSHINE DANIEL NIGHTBRIGHT, YOU BEAST!?”

Daniel yelled as he ran, preparing Nova Noir to fire a vortex.

“WELL, LET’S SEE IF YOU CAN HANDLE THIS!”

Daniel quickly aimed Nova Noir to the left of him, opened a vortex on the ground, pulled himself forward, and closed it quickly, sending him speeding forward, to which the snake instantly followed, its gaping mouth overflowing with flames. Daniel quickly turned again, to which the snake followed, again; Daniel turned, it followed, he turned it followed, and the turning and following went on and on until the beast stopped dead in its tracks.

No matter where it looked, the trees around it were completely covered in fire. It was laying under a sheet of burning trees, coiled around countless pillars of ash-ridden bark.

It had lost Daniel.

It slowly creeped around the burning wasteland it had created, attempting to be as quiet as possible as it searched for the sparkly young man. It lunged, its flaming teeth ready to crush him at any moment, trying to catch him by surprise in the raging flames.

It was at that moment that a loud bang was heard, a vortex appeared on the ground, and a part of the beast began sinking into it.

The beast became frantic. It tried to pull itself out of the vortex, but it could not. It started to ram through the trees, but it only caused itself to become more caged in the inferno, burying itself under a mess of burning trees. More shots were heard; more sections of the beast were being pulled into the ground at once. The beast began to flail wildly at everything around it, until it could not move over the mass of burning trees on top of it. And then, through the blazing leaves, it saw him; a boy in the middle of the smoke-ridden sky, falling steadily downward and preparing to fire a massive vortex. With all of the strength it had left, the beast lunged upward; a raging pillar of animalistic flame preparing to fire a massive sun from its mouth against a shining beacon in the murky skies preparing to shoot a darkness that rivaled the night itself; it was a clash between darkened light and a shining shadow. Time stood still. The only noise was the buildup to the release of their powers. The clash began...

And abruptly ended by the Captain landing in the gaping mouth of the creature, affectively stoping it. This surprised Daniel, and caused him to have the built-up vortex disperse and begin falling once again, but the Captain managed to grab him before he could plummet to his doom.

“What are you doing, Captain!? That was going to be my big moment!!”

“I’m sure you would have done well, Daniel, but you’re not the only one being attacked.”

He looked down into the flames.

“This... is a Firearm.”

“The monster? Really?”

“Yes.”

He looked back to Daniel.

“We’re going to follow it back to its source. Understand?”

“Yes, Sir! Oh, and, could you do my a favor?”

“What would that be?”

Daniel pointed up.

“Could you throw me upwards? Just by a few feet.”

The Captain looked at Daniel, looked upwards, looked back at Daniel, shrugged, and threw him into the air. Whilst in the air, Daniel released all of the vortices pulling the monster in at once, causing it all to fly somewhat into the air, fired a new, small vortex on the neck of the beast, landed on it, and proceeded to skate down the length of the beast, surrounded by a shining inferno.

Meanwhile, Maki was attempting to not have any of their belongings catch on fire as the inferno surrounding them kept reigniting, despite Suru giving her bullets the properties of water and shooting them at the trees. Maki fell to her knees and put her hands to her head.

“THIS IS GOING NOWHERE, SURU! WHAT DO WE DO? WHAT DO WE DO!?!?!?!?”

Suru let out a small ‘tch’ and reached her hand out to Maki.

“Let’s do it.”

Maki stared at her blankly.

“Do what?”

“The, uh, the thing. The... Linking stuff Cap was goin’ on about.”

Maki jumped up from the ground.

“Linking!? Didn’t he say that was an advanced technique!?”

“Who cares if it’s advanced? It’s what we came here in the first place to do, right? Let’s just do it.”

Maki looked around at her on-fire surroundings, down at a broken A-K, then back to Suru. She gulped.

“O-Okay! Yeah! Let’s just do it!”

Maki reached out her hand...

And, at that exact moment, the bullet she had accidentally fired earlier came crashing down to the spot next to them, causing a good-sized stone to be flung up from the ground. The stone hit Suru on the side of the head, which caused Suru to be knocked out instantly and fall over.

Maki said nothing nor did anything for about ten seconds before letting out a very loud scream.

“Oh god oh god oh god ohgodohgodohgodOHGODOHGOD!”

Maki began pacing wildly around the campsite, trying to come up with some sort of plan.

“I’ll make a run for it! No, no, then I would just burn to death... I’ll call the Captain!... How am I gonna do that...?... AAAAAAAGH!”

She looked over to Suru.

“That’s it! I got it! This is just an elaborate joke! Suru is gonna wake up riiiiiiiiight now!”

With a determined smile, Maki pointed to the unconscious Suru, who was not, in fact, doing an elaborate joke.

Maki realized this, but did not stop pointing nor smiling, as she had no idea what else she could do.

“Excuse me, Miss Mai-Dearest,” A-K said, “but I do believe there is someone approaching us.”

Maki slowly turned around to where A-K was looking, still smiling, but trembling and sweating profusely. A shadowy figure was walking through the flames, a figure Maki did not recognize at all. 

This was bad.

“Wow, y’all are so incompetent that you’re knocking each other out instead of the enemy! And they had to hire me to take care of you? Please.”

As the figure approached, Maki attempted to move, but she was unable to. After they finished speaking, she finally mustered up the courage to say something!

“Wh-Wh-Who hired you!? Who... who are you!?”

The figure stepped out of the fire, allowing Maki to get a good look at him. He was tall; or, at least, his helmet was. His entire head was covered by what appeared to be a large fire hydrant with lines down the front so that he could see. His eyes were jagged, and glowed a pastel yellow against his face, which was covered in shadow. The rest of his outfit looked like something you’d see a fireman wear, covered in the words ‘DANGER! FIRE HAZARD’ over and over. He had a large flamethrower attached to his back, which seemed to be expelling flames into the forest non-stop. His boots shined a brilliant red, and had shining silver cleats.

“My buyer is a trade secret, girlie, but I can tell you my name.”

The man struck a pose in front of the flames.

“The name’s Hydrant! I’m the King of the Inferno, the Snake Straight Out of Hell, the Conductor of Burns! I’ve been paid handsomely to turn this whole outdoors resort, and you guys, into nothing but ash! So why don’cha be a doll and sit still while you burn to death, ‘K?”

Maki, still trembling, spoke again.

“Your name is... Hydrant?”

“Yup.”

“Like a... fire hydrant?”

“Yeah, yeah, you got it.”

For just a split second, all color seemed to fade from the world. The fire disappears, and the only noise left was Maki’s voice.

“Don’t... those have water in them?”

Nothing.

And then, rage.

“YOU BITCH! DON’T YOU KNOW HOW HARD I WORKED ON THAT NAME!?!?!? NOW YOU WENT AND MADE ME THINK IT’S STUPID! NOW I HAVE TO REBRAND MYSELF ENTIRELY!”

Hydrant lunged at Maki.

“I’LL KILL YOU DEAD!!!!”

Maki stood still in fear. She couldn’t dodge. She accepted her death.

And then, right before Hydrant could make it to Maki, A-K appeared and drop-kicked him into a nearby, on-fire tree, and then collapsed once again.

“Are you alright, Miss Mai-Dearest?”

Maki finally got out of her pointing stance.

“Y-Yeah, I’m fine, thank you- wait, am I okay? Are you okay!?”

“Yes, I’m quite alright. Just a bit severely injured.”

Before Maki could crouch down to help A-K, she heard grunting come from Hydrant.

“Damn, even for a bucket of bolts, that robot hits hard.”

He stretched.

“Well, whatever. Looks like it’s about to fall apart anyway. Let’s get back to the slaughtering, yeah?”

He balled up his fists, with hundreds of small spikes appearing from the knuckles of his metal gloves.

“No more interruptions!”

Hydrant lunged at Maki once again, but she was prepared to dodge this time. She brought Soul Burst out and, after ducking to avoid his punch, fired a shot.

Unfortunately, she missed.

Hydrant laughed.

“The hell was that!? I’m right in front of you and you can’t even shoot me with your own gun!?”

Maki looked at him with a sort of trembling determination in her eyes.

“I... I wasn’t aiming for you!”

Suddenly, the sounds of tree bark cracking boomed through the campsite, and a flaming tree cut off at its stump came crashing down towards the two of them. Maki managed to get away just in time; Hydrant did not.

Maki looked down at the fallen tree for a moment before laughing triumphantly... but still nervously.

“I did it! Haha! T-Take that, you... you... criminal!! Yeah!”

She continued to laugh, but was cut short by the sound of wood being sliced clean in half. Behind her appeared Hydrant once again, with a dirtied outfit, a cracked helmet, and a look in his eyes filled with so much rage it appeared he was on fire himself.

“I’m gettin’... real tired... of all this bullshit!”

He began to walk towards Maki.

“I’m gonna do worse than murder you...”

He took another step.

“... I’m gonna hurt you so bad...”

He reeled back for a punch.

“... THAT YOU’RE GONNA WISH I HAD JUST BURNED YOU TO DEATH IN THE FIRST PLACE!!!”

As Maki took what she believed to be her final glimpse of the world around her, she saw a light; a bright light approaching the campsite at breakneck speed. It was glorious. It was comforting.

It was Daniel.

Who was still riding on the body of the beast.

And was being chased by the same beast, no less!

Daniel eventually reached the end of the beast’s tail, which was coming out of the flamethrower attached to Hydrant’s back, jumped off of the small vortex he had been riding on, flipped Nova Noir over so that he was holding it like a bat, and rammed the end of it right between one of the openings in Hydrant’s helmet, getting a direct hit in the face and sending him backwards a bit. This short distance backwards caused him to land inside the beast’s mouth, which caused the beast to stop for a split second. In this split second, Maki gathered up the courage to turn Soul Burst into a bazooka and shoot a large bullet straight into Hydrant’s stomach, causing him to be swallowed by the beast and be engulfed into its flames.

Everything stood still for a moment.

And then, the beast exploded.

It was a beautiful sight, really; it was if a giant’s fireplace had been lit and just as quickly had been put out. The explosion instantly cleared away all of the fire in the area, leaving nothing but a dead, black space in its wake. Maki fell down. Daniel fell down. The Captain finally caught up with them and looked over them.

“Great job, team! The training didn’t go as planned, but you all still performed extremely admirably! We’ve actually been trying to catch this guy for a while- his Firearm, Red Mamba, lets him be a master arsonist for hire.”

The Captain gave a thumbs up to the both of them.

“We’ll get you fixed up and sent home. Just tell me if you need anything to be replaced. I’m very proud of all of you!”

And the Captain went off to deal with the mess left behind.

For a while, nothing. Maki and Daniel both just looked up at the smoggy black skies above them for what felt like forever. And then, finally, Daniel spoke.

“I guess you could say that this camping trip was... on fire?”

Suru, still unconscious, punched Daniel on the side of the head for that one. Maki began to laugh hysterically.

“Let’s all stay friends, okay?”

TO BE CONTINUED


	6. Episode 5 - The Door

-05:57 AM, February 9th, 2111-

It was early in the morning, and it looked like it was going to rain.

Not that that mattered, of course. The 23GT were inside.

More specifically, they were inside one of the most expertly guarded buildings in the country: the Firearm Defense Committee Headquarters.

“If anyone managed to get into the building, we’d know,” explained the Captain. “There are cameras in every room, a highly trained personnel identification squadron watching our every move, state-of-the-art...”

Daniel wasn’t listening. He was too busy marveling at the splendid architecture.

Suru had fallen asleep a while ago. Her face was pressed against the glass of the incredibly fancy elevator.

Due to this, the responsibility of listening to the Captain explain in-depth about the incredible amounts of protection put into the building had fallen to Maki, who did her best to listen, but ended up only understanding around one-fifth of the words once he got into the specifics.

“But, above all else, the security of this building comes from that door.”

He pointed towards the gargantuan door in front of them.

“That door is the only entrance and the only exit. If anyone unauthorized to be here comes in, the building becomes surrounded. The only options remaining would be either to remain in here with some of the most highly-trained members of the military, or go outside and face the rest of it.”

“M- Mhm.”

Maki was both intimidated and perplexed by the building.

“Um, Captain... why is this building so big if there’s no one in it?”

“Oh, it’s usually very busy!”

The Captain excitedly turned to Maki and began to explain to her the many tasks overseen by the staff of the building using intricate hand motions. Maki tried to pay attention, became overwhelmed, and eventually decided to tune him out and began to think about birds.

“Then, after the committee votes on a strategy, they implement- ah, we’re here.”

Maki turned to look at the opening elevator doors. Standing in front of them were two men, both wearing ocean-green suits with black ties.

“Took you long enough, Shitglock!”

The taller man let out a howling laugh at his own pun while the other man bowed his head in shame.

“A- Ah! Sorry about him! Truly! Very sorry!”

The shorter man was frantically bowing for the other man’s rude remark. The Captain walked out of the elevator.

“Agents, I’d like you to meet the heads of the National Police Department, Marco and Eustace DonLeone.”

Suru peeled her face off of the elevator glass and faced the two.

“Are you guys brothers or something?”

Marco pointed to Eustace with his thumb.

“Older by four years, but we don’t look alike, do we!?”

More howling laughter. Always with the laughter. Once he stopped, Marco took out a mug and threw it towards Maki, which she caught quite ungracefully.

“Hey, you! Pink one! Do me a favor and get me a coffee.”

Eustace shivered.

“Marco, that’s-“

“Don’t sweat it, guy! We got a meeting to attend, anyway. Let’s go, eh?”

Taking his brother by the shoulder, Marco strolled towards the meeting room, bumping into many objects along the way. Maki stood still, looking down at the mug.

“I don’t... know how to make coffee.”

The Captain crouched down to her.

“Would you like to learn?”

Maki nodded. The Captain stood up.

“Follow me, I’ll show you the break room.”

He turned to Daniel and Suru.

“Go ahead and follow those two.”

Daniel stopped his marveling, spun around and saluted to the Captain.

“Yes, Sir!”

He grabbed Suru by the hand and rushed off to catch up with the DonLeones while the Captain and Maki discussed her newfound fear of Marco.

Eventually, Daniel and Suru made it to the conference room, but the hallway was completely empty.

“I suppose we made it here early! Well, good to know my punctuality is still as on-point as ever!”

He was speaking loudly.

“You like to talk, don’t you?”

She was speaking uninterestedly.

“Why, yes,” he struck a pose, “yes I do.”

Suddenly, the two could hear a choir of footsteps drawing closer to them, lead by the DonLeone brothers. Marco was chattering on about something or other, making himself laugh all the while, until the group reached the door and flooded the room, paying no mind to either of the agents. The last man to go in, who was wearing a yellow trench coat, aimed a Polaroid camera at the two, said “Smile!” And took a picture before slamming the door shut.

For a moment, neither of them said anything. Then, Suru spoke.

“Well, I can see we’re unappreciated.”

“Ah, geniuses such as us usually are.”

Daniel smiled, letting his pearly whites shine brightly, and delved into his own fantasies.

Suru took a nap.

Maki and the Captain walked up, Maki holding onto her first cup of coffee with a nervous smile, and stopped at the door. The Captain carefully took the coffee out of Maki’s hands before altering the other two.

“Agents!”

Maki and Daniel turned to the Captain.

“Yes, sir!”

“Your mission today is to make sure no one comes into this room. If you have any suspicion that a criminal might be in the building, alert us immediately!”

“Yes, sir!”

The Captain gave them a big thumbs-up!

“Good luck, Agents! I’ll see you in six hours!”

“Sir, yes, si- what?”

The Captain slammed the door shut, leaving Maki, Daniel and Suru to their own devices.

Suru raised her head up.

“What do they need to do in there for six hours?”

“Did you not hear the Captain explain on the drive?” Asked Daniel. “The world economic summit is being held! It’s undoubtedly an immensely boring process. It takes quite some time!”

Daniel turned around and put his hand to his chin in thought.

“Ah, I remember when I was young, my father used to bring me to his office when he had no time to find a sitter. Hours and hours of nothing but me and my thoughts, all...”

As Daniel rambled on, Suru turned to Maki.

“What time is it?”

“Uh...”

She looked at her watch.

“... 6:04.”

Suru let out a gigantic sigh.

For the first hour, Daniel talked out-loud about a variety of things, including concerns about his own wardrobe, ballet, his attempts at finding a suitable pet, and why fauvism is overrated and should die as an art form. Maki fiddled with her thumbs and thought about birds. She really missed her bird today. Suru slept.

The second hour, after Maki had gone back to the break room to find a snack and something to keep Daniel occupied, she ate her fruit gummies contently while Daniel drew doodles of roses in black pen. Suru still slept.

The third hour, after Maki just decided to bring the whole box of gummies to their spot, she and Suru watched Daniel as he performed the entirety of A Midsummer Night’s Dream by himself, from memory. A big round of applause followed as he finished the performance and promptly passed out on the floor.

The fourth hour, Maki hummed music to herself while Daniel and Suru were knocked out, until her train of thought suddenly became fixated on that hottie Jeremy Fichter. She was glad neither of them were up to see her blush.

The fifth hour, bored out of their minds, all three of them began to talk.

“What’dya think they’re talking about in there?” Asked Suru, as she looked at the door with her eyes closed.

“Finances, no doubt.” Daniel explained. “Taxes. Budget cuts. New strategies. Things of that nature.”

Maki put her fingers together nervously.

“Th- The Chief of Police... Marco? He was scary.”

“Yeah, he seemed pretty messed-up. Hope we don’t have to see him again.”

“Oh, I’m sure we’ll get to! After all, we’re agents of TRIGGER! We work for the government! We’ll have to work very closely with the police department!”

Daniel clasped his hands together and looked off into the horizon.

“Ah, isn’t it wonderful~? A whole new audience to witness my majesty!”

Maki shuddered. Suru didn’t really seem to care. Maki looked at her watch.

“Hey, looks like we’re almost done! Thank goodness. I’m gonna go to the bathroom.”

Maki stood up and wobbled. Her legs had fallen asleep, so she had to pay extra mind not to fall. Suru looked at the door to the conference room again. Daniel waved a piece of cloth at Maki, wishing her luck on her travels.

“You know what I find strange?”

Suru looked over at Daniel, who was speaking in an unusually appropriate volume.

“... What’s that?”

“The fact that this entire building would be cleared out in order to ensure this meeting took place without issue, but they still let in reporters.”

Suru opened her eyes a bit.

“What?”

Daniel pretended to click a camera with his hands.

“That man in the yellow trench coat! He had a camera. He took our picture. Strange, isn’t it?”

Suru thought about this for a second, got tired of thinking, and slammed the door open after getting back onto her feet.

“Yo, Cap.”

The Captain looked up from the papers he was looking at.

“Yes, Suru? Is something the matter?”

She pointed at the conference table.

“You guys didn’t hire a reporter, did you?”

For a moment, everyone was silent, say for Daniel, who was waving over Suru’s shoulder to the Captain. He waved back.

“Er, no, we didn’t. Why?”

“Somethin’ buggin’ ya, lady?”

Marco was leaning over in his chair.

“We’re almost done with this boring-ass meeting! Make your point already, eh!?”

He let out another burst of howling laughter, while Eustace looked worriedly at Suru.

“Yes, Miss Rurururu, please tell us what’s the matter.”

“Oh, it’s no big deal.”

Suru summoned Green Star and pointed it at the conference table.

“It’s just that one of you is a criminal.”

Marco ceased his laughter and decided to let Suru keep talking.

“Any of you see a guy come in here with a yellow trench coat on?”

Everyone shook their heads. Suru let out a ‘tch.’

“Alright.”

She pointed Green Star towards a potted plant that was sitting on the floor in the corner of the room.

“What’s with the plant?”

Everyone looked at the plant, and for a moment, no one did anything.

Then the potted plant sprouted legs, kicked Suru to the side and bolted out the room. The Captain rushes over to her side.

“Suru! Are you alright?”

Suru picked herself up and readjusted her glasses.

“Yeah, I’m fine.”

She looked over to the people sitting at the conference table.

“Finish up your meeting. We’ll deal with this guy.”

Marco let out a fit of his howling laughter, which Suru had already become tired of.

“Well, today just got a lot more interesting, didn’t it!?”

He put his feet up onto the table and stared at Suru.

“If this creep manages to leave the building, a whole lot of important secrets could be exposed to a lot of dangerous people. You get what that means, don’t you?”

Suru could tell that he was powerful from the way he spoke.

“Consider this your first real trial as an agent of TRIGGER! Fail this, and you’re out!”

Eustace looked at the both of them, worried.

“Marco...”

His voice trailed off. Suru looked at the Captain, who was staring down at the table. A shadow of worry had fallen over his face.

“Yeah, I get it.”

Her stoic voice pierced the silence.

“You’re too lazy to get up and deal with this guy yourself, so you’re making a child do all the work for you. I get it just fine.”

Marco smiled devilishly. She turned around and began to shut the door.

“Hey, Cap.”

The Captain looked up to see a saluting Suru standing in the doorway.

“I won’t let you down.”

The door slammed shut, and the only thing Suru had on her mind was catching whoever it was who snuck in here.

“Suru!”

She turned around. It was Daniel.

“That plant guy came out here and kicked me in the face, so I didn’t see which way he went!”

She looked in front of her... a split path.

“You take the right,” Daniel said, heading beginning a sprint, “I’ll take the left!”

Suru nodded, brought out Green Star, and made a mad dash down the hallway.

While that was happening, however, Maki made it back to the room. She was whistling something to herself, or at least she was trying (it wasn’t her forte), when she noticed that Suru and Daniel were no longer standing guard. Her whistling trailed off as she gained the courage to step forward. They wouldn’t just... leave, would they?

She continued to walk forward, but she couldn’t manage to call out her friend’s names. Soul Burst was slowly clanking behind her as it grew larger with her fear.

Finally, she had made it to the door. She was sure whatever was happening could be explained by-

Falling.

She was falling.

She opened the door, and somehow, she fell into a dark pit. The light from the room grew smaller and smaller as she continued to... well, fall. It was only after the light completely disappeared that she realized something bad was probably going to happen, which is exactly when Soul Burst let out a large blast of energy.

By a stroke of pure luck, however, the blast managed to stop Maki’s momentum just as she hit the floor, so after tumbling for a second she sat up fine.

Wait... what?

This was the lobby!

Maki began to look around frantically. The room they were in was on the other side of the building! How did she...?

Suddenly, her train of thought was thrown off of its neurological rails by the sound of a large door suddenly being flung open, a blur of speed zooming past her and the wall in front of her being broken like a thumbtack popping a balloon. Before she had the chance to even try and register what just happened, a short man in a teal suit suddenly ran up in front of her, trying to catch his breath.

“W... Wait... Please wait a moment, Captain!”

Maki recognized his man, but...

“Um... excuse me...”

He turned around abruptly, like he hadn’t realized she was there. He hadn’t.

“Are you...?”

“OH, MISS MAI-DEAREST!”

The man fell to his knees in relief.

“I was so worried when the Captain noticed you weren’t with the other two! I couldn’t bear to see an up-and-coming agent fall under injury!”

Maki blinked. She wasn’t really paying that much attention.

“Oh, I never formally introduced myself, did I? So sorry about that. Truly. Sorry.”

The man stood upright with perfect posture.

“My name is Eustace DonLeone. I know I tend to make less of an impact than my elder brother, but I can assure you I still give one-hundred and ten percent to my career as co-Chief of Police!”

It took a few seconds of silence for Eustace to realize that Maki wasn’t listening. He couldn’t blame her- he didn’t quite understand what was going on himself.

“You said Captain... was it the Captain that went through that wall?”

Maki pointed to the rather large hole in front of them. Eustace sighed.

“Yes, we appear to-“

Just as Eustace was about to explain the situation, a taller, similarly teal man destroyed the wall on the side while screaming loudly.

“DAMNIT, DAMNIT, DAMNIT, DAMNIT!! WHAT THE HELL’S UP WITH THIS POWER!?”

It was Marco, the scarier of the DonLeone brothers. He had four long tendrils coming out of his back, with what appeared to be machine gun muzzles at the end of them. The tendrils began to flail wildly and almost managed to hit Maki and Eustace.

“Marco, stop it!”

“DON’T TRY AND TELL ME WHAT TO DO, EUSTACE! I’M NOT AFRAID TO BEAT YOU TO A PULP ALONG WITH WHOEVER THE HELL IS TRYIN’ TO MESS WITH US!”

His teeth were jagged, and you could feel the seething rage from behind his goggles. Like an enraged animal, Marco used his tendrils to dig straight down without paying mind to the other two in the room.

Maki looked at Eustace. He had short, black hair, which contrasted heavily with Marco’s jagged white mop, and a squarish face. He looked rather... boring. Even in his obscene blandness, however, Maki saw a strange sadness in his eyes.

Eustace adjusted his tie.

Maki looked around the broken lobby.

“Um... what exactly is...”

She motioned to... well, everything.

“... this??”

Eustace put his hand up to his chin.

“We’re not sure ourselves, but what we do know is this: after the Captain tried to open the door to the outside, the room we were in suddenly disappeared. After the Captain, Marco and myself landed, we soon discovered that no matter which direction we go, this same room appears endlessly.”

Maki realized she should probably stand up, so she did. She walked over to one of the holes in the walls... it was true. Nothing but this same room over and over.

“The Captain determined that the culprit must have some kind of spatial-warping Firearm, and that whoever it was controlling it was most likely at the center of the maze. Marco went with him, but...”

He looked over at the hole in the center of the room and sighed.

“It seems his anger’s gotten the best of him again.”

Maki’s fear began to swell up inside of her again as she looked through all the holes in the rooms. Endless. Infinite. No escape.

Meanwhile, Suru was still chasing a potted plant with legs, but that endeavor was seemingly going nowhere.

“Oh, I found you, Suru! Hello!”

What the?- BONK

Suru slammed head-first into the wall in front of her. After regaining her stance, she found that the sudden distraction was none other than Daniel.

“I was worried when I saw that you weren’t in the room, so I-“

“Did you find the guy!?”

The two of them stared into each other awkwardly for a few seconds.

“What ‘guy?’”

“The guy! Y’know, the one we’re chasing!”

“We’re chasing a guy?”

“Yeah! He turned into a potted plant, and-“

Suru came to an abrupt stop in her sentence, paralyzed in thought. Daniel didn’t seem to notice.

“A potted plant? That’s a tad strange, no?”

She dropped Green Star and put her head in her hands.

“What kind of plant was it?... Did it look healthy?”

“Daniel.”

Suru put her hand on Daniel’s shoulder with a tremendous amount of force, raising her head to look at him with red, glowing, animal-like eyes.

“Someone is trying to escape this building with all of the information talked about in that meeting.”

Daniel had on a fun smile.

“Oh, that’s bad.”

“Yeah.” Her hand dug into his shoulder. “To make things worse, it looks like his Firearm lets him shape-shift.”

Still, a fun smile.

“Oh, yes, that’s quite the issue.”

He pointed at his shoulder.

“Your hand is very powerful, by the way. Have you considered studying massage?”

Her teeth were clenched as she spoke.

“But you wanna know the worst part?”

His head tilted to the side.

“What’s that?”

Suru took her hand off of his shoulder and whispered into his ear as she began to walk forward.

“He shape-shifted... into you.”

Suddenly, Daniel’s usually cheery, yellow glow turned a deep, malicious purple. His face morphed from happy and content to disgusted and outraged in less than a second.

“He WHAT!?”

Daniel took out Nova Noir, ready to kill.

“THAT SCOUNDREL DARES TO TRY AND SULLY THE NAME OF DANIEL NIGHTBRIGHT WITH LIES!?”

He twirled the rifle in his hands before shooting a vortex on the ground, jumping onto it and riding its momentum like a skateboard. He grabbed Suru by the collar of her shirt and pulled her along for the ride. She smirked to herself, proud that her Daniel-plan had worked.

“WELL, I’LL SHOW HIM!”

The both of them raced to the other side of the building at a breakneck speed.

“I’LL SHOW HIM WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU INVOKE THE WRATH OF AMERICA’S PRETTIEST BOY!”

Funnily enough, Daniel wasn’t the only one going crazy.

“Oh god... we’re trapped...”

Maki was sulking in one of the many, many corners of the endless lobby.

“This is it... this is how I’m gonna die.”

In her despair, she didn’t seem to realize that Soul Burst was firing wildly in every direction, much to Eustace’s dismay.

“P- P- Please, calm down, Miss Mai-Dearest! Your Firearm is going crazy!”

She turned around slowly to see Eustace behind an opaque wall... huh? Her newfound interest managed to calm down Soul Burst.

“Where’d that wall come from?”

Eustace stopped and brought down the wall once he realized it was safe again.

“Sorry, I should’ve told you this earlier, since we’re working together. Truly. Sorry.”

Maki took note that he apologized a lot. Not very fitting for the Chief of Police.

Well, co-Chief.

“My Firearm is called Defender.”

Eustace held his hands in the air and summoned a large harpoon gun.

“It allows me to summon a large, unbreakable wall, though where the wall is located depends on where the fired harpoon lands.”

The distant sounds of the Captain and Marco breaking through walls filled the room as Maki and Eustace stared at each other in an awkward silence.

“Sorry... I know it’s not all that impressive. Truly. Sorry.”

Maki snapped out of it, and put her hands out in front of her as she scrambled to apologize.

“What?? No!! It’s just that I’m not used to people used to explaining their Firearms so openly!!”

She looked down at the floor.

“At least... not without trying to kill me afterwards...”

Another moment of silence came and went before Maki put her head up again.

“No, but, it’s a great Firearm!”

Before Eustace had the chance to respond, the lobby’s left wall burst open with the Captain gaining his footing in the center of the room.

“Captain!”

The Captain turned to see Maki running towards him. His face lit up as he rushed over to her as well.

“Maki! I’m so glad you’re safe!... Wait, why are you not with Daniel and Suru!?”

Maki began to flail her arms wildly.

“Well, I went to the bathroom, but when I came back, they were gone, so I tried to see what was going on in the meeting room but then I was falling and then I was here and then-“

She put both of her hands over her mouth.

“S- Sorry!!”

The Captain looked away.

“There’s no need to apologize. This situation is... strange, to say the least. I’ve only been traveling in a straight line, but...”

He pointed to the wall he broke through.

“Not only did I come out of the side of this room, but I’ve also been here before, judging by the fact that almost all of the walls are broken.”

Right on time, Marco fell through the wall on the ceiling and onto the floor.

“DAMNITDAMNITDAMNITDAMNITDAMNITDAMNITDAMNIT! THIS PLACE MAKES NO SENSE!”

Eustace whipped his head around to his brother.

“MARCO!! STOP YELLING ALREADY!!”

Marco’s tendrils aimed themselves at Eustace.

“TRY AND MAKE ME!”

Eustace rushed over to his brother, and the two of them began to have an incoherent argument. Huh, they really were brothers. The Captain put his hand in Maki’s shoulder.

“Before you left, Suru and Daniel began to chase after someone who had been listening in on our meeting. This building is currently under attack from two enemies.”

Sweat began to form on Maki’s face.

“T- Two?”

The Captain began to walk around the room to investigate, while Maki followed closely behind.

“Yes... and I believe their plan was to have you chase after the spy as well. They weren’t sure how skilled the agents guarding the room would be, so they thought it best to distract them entirely. If they did that, they could send the brothers and myself here to kill us off. But now... you’re here. I have a plan.”

As Maki’s worry grew, Daniel and Suru’s desire to punch this guy in the face did as well.

“Daniel!”

Suru crouched down behind a wall and grabbed Daniel to hide him out of sight. As he growled and mumbled to himself about the utter gall of this menace, Suru watched the man in the yellow trench coat speak on a phone.

“What do you MEAN the elevator is on the other side? The map you gave me CLEARLY...”

...

“... Okay, well, maybe I *was* holding it upside-down! Whatever... just make sure you take care of the big-shots!”

He hung up. Suru quickly hid again.

“Okay, we’re gonna...”

She was alone.

“Daniel?”

“YOUR REIGN OF TERROR ENDS TODAY, BASTARD!!”

Suru turned around to see Daniel lunging at the man, so engulfed in rage he wasn’t even using Nova Noir. Great. Suru got a good look at the man; he was tall, had on white gloves, a gargoyle-like mask... all of his physical features were completely obscured.

And then he vanished.

Daniel fell onto the ground and began to frantically look for the assailant.

“Where did he go!? I thought you said his power was shape-shifting!”

“It should be!” Suru shouted as she came up from behind the corner and began to look around as well. As she searched, she heard a soft buzzing sound behind her. She aimed Green Star behind her... oh, just a fly.

Wait...

“He... he turned...”

The fly quickly flew around the corner as Suru began a mad dash.

“HE TURNED INTO A FLY!”

“He wha... OH, THAT’S DIRTY!”

Daniel got up from the floor and began to sprint towards Suru, who was already at the end of the hallway. By the time he managed to catch up to the two of them, the elevator to the lobby was in sight. Suru fired a few shots, but it was to no avail- the elevator door shut before they could get in. It lowered itself as the man morphed back into his regular form and waved the two goodbye. Suru and Daniel were understandably enraged.

“How did he even manage to close the door as a fly!?”

Suru fired a large bullet onto the top of the elevator.

“Alright, as soon as he gets out, we bounce off of the bullet I just fired and-“

Daniel was already gone, with a cloud of wrath-fueled sparkles behind him. Suru sighed. The elevator was almost at the bottom anyway, so she jumped as well.

Ding!

The elevator came to a stop, opened up, and the man ran for the exit as fast as he could. In the middle of the lobby, a woman looking at a computer with headphones sat. She pushed the blue hair out of her face as she yelled to the man.

“Why are you running? Did you take care of the guards!?”

The man turned around and ran backwards to the door.

“NOCHANGEOFPLANSWE’REGETTINGOUTOFHERERIGHTNOW!”

The man slammed against the door and began to pry it open. An angry look crept onto the woman’s face.

“Change of plans!? What!? Don’t you wanna get paid!?”

“HELP ME WITH THIS STUPID DOOR!”

The woman stood up.

“Wait, what’s-“

She let out an ugly noise as Suru landed on top of her, pinning her down and aiming Green Star at her head. The woman looked up, but all she saw was an unamused Suru.

“Alright, I’m gettin’ real tired of surprises today. Tell me who the hell you are and we can get this over with peacefully.”

Daniel ran with the might of a thousand chariots towards the man, ready to make him pay for his unforgivable sins. The man used the power acquired from his desire not to be beaten up by a sparkly teenager to swing open the door. He bathed in the sunlight of freedom, a smile creeped onto his face, and...

“We have you and the entire premises surrounded. Surrender yourselves or we will be required to use force.”

In front of him were a cavalcade or police cars, police officers with guns pointed at him, and in front of it all, a robot with his hands behind his back.

“A-K!”

Suru, still pinning the woman down, yelled for the robot’s attention.

“These guys are super annoying! Go ahead and shoot ‘em!”

The woman scrambled beneath her.

“Wait, wait, wait! We surrender! We surrender!”

Everyone, even Daniel, stopped moving. The lobby began to crack along its walls, and the architecture turned into a sparkly-blue. Once the room was completely covered in the blue, glass fragments exploded off of the walls, revealing Maki, the Captain, and the arguing DonLeone brothers. The Captain was explaining his plan to escape in great detail.

“We will then use the rock’s centripetal force to- oh, look at that.”

Maki saw what was happening, and decided she was done. She fell onto her back, her soul having officially left her body. Suru looked at her.

“‘Sup, Maki.”

“H- Hey...”

While everyone got ready to arrest the two perps, the man began to break down.

“You... how did you... get here?”

A-K walked forward.

“The other cabinet members alerted us of the situation.”

The man turned his head to his partner.

“You forgot to put them into the maze as well!?”

She said nothing, and the man began to growl.

“No... noNONONO!! THIS IS NOT HOW I FAIL!! I AM THE RAZZI!”

Suru looked at him, confused.

“The what?”

His trench coat began to flow in the wind as power swelled within him.

“WITH MY FIREARM, POLAROID, I WILL ESCAPE THIS PLACE, AND YOU WILL ALL KNOW THE WRATH OF MY-“

“ＳＰＡＲＫＬＥ˚✧₊⁎☆*ＫＩＣＫ！“

Out of nowhere, Daniel dropkicked Razzi, letting out an explosion of shining stars on impact. He fell to the ground, Daniel stood up...

And smiled!

“Ah... all is right once again~!”

The Captain gave him a round of applause.

“Good job, Daniel!”

Suru spat.

“He got glitter in my mouth.”

Daniel bowed.

“Oh, thank you, thank you! Please, you’re all too kind.~”

He laughed to himself as he twirled around the scene in his regular Daniel fashion. Suru looked down.

“Now, to just-“

There was no woman. Instead, just a pile of blue glass. Suru let out a hefty sigh.

“Y’know what? Today was dumb. I’m going home.”

She left. The Captain yelled at her.

“You did great!”

She yelled back.

“Yeah, thanks, Cap. See you tomorrow.”

She waved goodbye. The Captain walked over to the Razzi.

“This attack was definitely calculated... though not particularly well.”

A-K spoke in a hushed manner.

“Do you think this recent attack has to do with the other ones?”

“It’s too early to confirm anything.”

The Captain looked at the mess in front of him.

“For now, we need to focus on finding whoever it was the Razzi was working with.”

Marco walked up from behind the Captain with his hands in his pockets.

“Whatever this is, it’ll sure as hell be interesting!”

He let out a fit of howling laughter as he looked at an exiting Suru.

“These kids... hope they get a bit of practice in, 'cause they're about to see what the world's really like!"

TO BE CONTINUED


	7. Episode 6 - Stronger

-10:17 AM, February 13th, 2111-

A few days had passed since the economics summit incident, and only now was Maki walking back into TRIGGER HQ; she was nervously optimistic, engulfed in the kind of feeling you get when your stomach is in knots but you try to breathe anyway. She feared the fact that she would inevitably have to be thrust into another terrifying situation soon enough, and wondered if there was anything that could make her feel-

“Ah, Maki! I missed you!”

Daniel ran up to her and gave her a big hug, catching her somewhat by surprise.

“Have you been well~?”

Blushing from the hug, Maki fumbled over her words a bit.

“Um, yeah! I k- kind of needed a-“

“Ahh, it’s so wonderful to be back! Truly, I feel no greater joy than when I’m able to...”

Of course, Maki’s verbal fumbling made no difference to Daniel, who had already engulfed himself in his very sparkly world. The two walked forward towards the door that led into the main room of the base. Daniel stopped being glittery for a moment and turned to Maki.

“Say, would you have any idea as to where Suru could be? I didn’t see her when I walked in.”

Maki opened the door.

“I... kind of figured she would be with you.”

The scene that unfolded in front of their eyes would only end up adding to their confusion.

“There was blood everywhere, man! Total shitshow!”

Marco DonLeone, acting head of the national police department, was sitting at a white coffee table, on the left side of the room. Howling in laughter at his own bleak story, his body jerked around, sending the black coffee he had in his hand to go flying in every direction.

“Marco, you can’t- AH! MISS MAI-DEAREST! SIR NIGHTBRIGHT!”

His brother, Eustace, acting vice-head of the national police department, quickly shot up to shake the hands of the two.

“Please, forgive my brother! I apologize for his vulgarity! Truly! Very sorry!”

Maki was taken aback a bit. Why were they here?

“Oh! Uh... hi, Mr. Eustace... it’s really not a problem.”

Maki nervously chuckled. Was something bad going on?

Daniel also chuckled. Not in the way Maki chuckled, mind you, more of a satisfactory laugh that only lasted a moment.

“Oh, it’s quite alright~!”

He hadn’t been called Sir Nightbright before. Finally... glorious recognition.

As Daniel basked in the fact that he had finally achieved sir-hood, Maki focused on more... important matters.

“Why are you guys here?”

Marco kicked the table to the side and got up from his chair.

“Did Shotglock not tell you? Ha! Guess you guys aren’t real agents yet, huh!?”

Maki felt a surge of anxiety roll down into her stomach.

“Wh- What do you mean?”

Eustace stopped shaking their hands and looked angrily at Marco, who was walking out of the room, still holding a cup of coffee that somehow just kept on spilling.

“Something big might be startin’ up soon, girlie. We could be on a collision course with something way out of your league, so I hope you’re keeping your guard up!”

Marco exited the room. Daniel was unfazed, if a bit more cognizant of the mood than he usually is, but Maki began to panic. She tried not to let it show, but her shudders and averting eyes made it somewhat obvious. Eustace, unsure of what to do next, ran after Marco to lecture him on proper social behavior. Daniel looked over at Maki, who was beginning to slouch over a bit.

“Are you okay?”

Daniel’s voice came as a surprise to her, so she shot up and attempted to regain her bearings.

“Y- Yeah! I’m... fine.”

Maki did her best to swallow her fear, but she could feel her own stress rising. Her mind was going a million miles an hour. What did Marco mean?

She felt a hand on her shoulder.

“Good!”

She looked up. Daniel was giving her a shiny thumbs-up.

At least she had Daniel. And...

“L- Let’s go find Suru.”

Daniel spun into action, zooming past Maki and stopping elegantly in front of the door Marco and Eustace had gone through.

Daniel smelled like roses today.

“Shall we~?”

Maki smiled and went through the door, with Daniel following close behind. The hallway was small, at least, smaller than the ones outside of the rooms, but at the end of the long, small hallway, a massive conference room with a large, round table and a massive computer screen in place of a leftmost wall was present in pristine, white glory. The room was spotless.

“Oh, marvelous! Marvelous!”

Daniel fell to his knees and looked upward in a dramatic fashion.

“Oh, thank you, lord, for blessing me with this gift of... PERFECT ARCHITECTURE!”

Maki looked up too. She wasn’t as impressed as Daniel, but she was no expert, so...

“Your lord is a fluorescent ceiling light?”

Daniel sprung up and dusted off his pants.

“That’s not important, Suru.”

Huh?

Maki and Daniel looked behind them. Suru, who was for some reason in the hallway, was holding an orange soda can. She also had her eyes closed, but this was nothing new. They both smiled, and Daniel was the first to speak.

“Ah, Suru! We were looking for you! Where have you been?”

Suru took a swig of her drink.

“Break room.”

Maki blinked.

“We have a break room?”

Another sip.

“Yeah. It has drinks.”

She shook the can lightly to demonstrate the fact that the break room did, in fact, have drinks. Maki, trying not to focus on her anxiety, jumped into the conversation.

“How have you been?”

Suru sighed.

“Tired.”

She stepped forward and put her arms around the both of them to use as crutches as she slumped forward.

“It’s good to see you guys again.”

Daniel looked down at her.

“Yes, I’d be glad to see me again too...”

Maki was struggling to hold up Suru, who was almost twice her size.

“YEAH, GOOD TO SEE YOU TOO... COULD YOU MAYBE GET UP PLEASE??”

Suru picked herself up and took another sip of her drink. Maki leaned against a wall and caught her breath.

“S... So... why do you guys think they had us come in here?”

Daniel looked around, setting his sights on the beautiful mahogany round-table in the center.

“It might have something to do with the ‘impending doom’ the Chief of Police was describing, non? What does it matter, anyhow...”

He fell to his knees once again, this time spreading his arms out like he was ready to be taken by the angels.

“... If I am surrounded by this... glorious haven!?”

Maki stared at him in blank confusion. Suru was simply unimpressed, illustrated by her slow walk away towards the table.

“Good to see you haven’t changed, Danny.”

His face turned from bliss to sudden horror. His sparkles turned dark and fell with a crash. He slowly got up and slumped over.

“Danny... she called me Danny... and just after I had achieved ‘Sir...’”

Maki cautiously patted him on the back.

“Aw, Daniel... it’s just a nickname. I- I think you’re cool.”

Upon hearing this, his posture straightened and his sparkles returned.

“Oh, Maki, you are too kind.~”

Daniel happily walked over to the table to meet Suru, like it was some kind of jaunt. Then again, it probably was, at least for Daniel... Maki still didn’t get what was so exciting about walls with nothing on them. After she too had made it to the table and sat in one of the chairs, a door on the other side of the room was opened by the Captain and A-K, both studying the papers inside of plain-looking folders.

“It’s apparent that we- Oh! Hello, everyone. I hope you had a nice few days off.”

Captain tucked the files under his arms and sat at the very front of the round table, directly facing the large screen.

Daniel waved.

“Ah, Captain! So nice to see you again, our fearless leader! You too, A-K!”

Maki also waved, albeit less passionately.

“Welcome back, Daniel, Maki, Suru.”

A-K walked over to a small booth in the back of the room, used to operate the large screen.

Suru pulled her head up from her pseudo-nap and looked at Captain.

“Yo, Cap. What are we here for?”

Maki, shedding off her nervous silence for a moment, spoke quickly.

“Y- Yeah! The Chief was talking about some big event going on. Is there a- an emergency...?”

The Captain sighed as he went over the papers again before looking at the 23GT.

“There may very well be. It’s best if we waited until the meeting to elaborate.”

Maki’s heart sank into her stomach. For a moment, it seemed like the room was put under an oppressive fear, only showing itself through silence.

And then Marco walked in.

“Let’s get this show on the road, eh!? I got places to be!”

Kicking open the door he came in through, Marco unabashedly grumbled to the table. Eustace followed, mumbling something about how he was gonna lose it someday soon.

Suru wondered how the hell these two managed to become the heads of the NPD.

The Captain cleared his throat loudly and spoke loudly.

“A-K, we’re ready to start! Begin the presentation!”

“Roger.” The voice that came out of the speakers on the ceiling, though still A-K’s, was a bit more excited than usual. A-K liked presentations.

The lights turned off. The screen illuminated the room. It was showtime.

“Approximately one-and-a-half months ago, a week after the induction of the 23GT into TRIGGER, Roxanne Rosegold and her gang were captured, and their plans to illegally gain money and resources were terminated.”

The screen showed a few images from the scene, as well as Roxanne’s mugshot. Daniel felt rage seething within him; that was the woman who had called him mold.

“Later, Christopher Pire, going by the alias Hydrant, attempted to burn down TRIGGER’s esteemed training campsite. Though most of the site remains undamaged, there is a certain portion of the land that will be needing replanting procedures.”

There’s Hydrant. Maki thought that if he had maybe introduced himself as Chris, he would’ve wanted to kill her less.

“Just a few days ago, the World Defense Economics Summit was directly attacked by Benjamin Crick, going by the alias the Razzi, and a yet unknown assailant. Luckily, they were stopped before any information was leaked, but the unknown party managed to escape via unknown means.”

Suru thought about how thoroughly unpleasant of a day that was. Marco scoffed.

“We know all this, robot. Just cut to the chase already.”

If A-K could sigh, this is where he would.

“On the surface these attacks seem random, but we have reason to believe that they may have been coordinated, or, at the very least, correlated.”

Suru opened her eyes a bit.

“Huh?”

“The thought process is simple,” explained Captain. “Two of these attacks were targeted directly at highly-guarded or important areas, but the attacks themselves were made by relatively unknown or inexperienced criminals.”

Daniel chuckled.

“Maybe they’re just stupid!”

The Captain cleared his throat once again.

“Well, beyond that... it may very well be the case that their incentive was economic.”

Maki scratched her head. She didn’t like where this was going.

“They did all that for money?”

Pictures of evidence from the incidents began popping up on the screen.

“They very well might have.”

A-K popped in again to elaborate.

“There would be no reason for Roxanne and her gang to steal materials, nor for Hydrant to want to burn down the campsite, nor for the Razzi to want to steal sensitive intel. Unless...”

“They were hired...” Suru looked at the screen, her eyes fully open. “Right?”

The Captain adjusted his glasses.

“Correct.”

The screen went blank, and A-K once again spoke.

“If this is true, it may be the case that someone is attempting to weaken TRIGGER, the NPD and all other defenses we have against major threats.

Eustace was fiddling with his thumbs as he spoke.

“That’s where we come in. We’re starting an investigation to find out who exactly could be the ringleader in all of this, and, more importantly, what their plan is.”

Daniel clasped his hands together. Even in the dark, he was still the brightest in the room.

“Exciting! Tell me, how exactly do we fit into all of this?”

The Captain looked down at his papers.

“Right...”

He looked up at the 23GT with an intense glare.

“This is a bit unorthodox, but... because we want to make sure that you all can be as prepared as possible for anything that might happen, we’re going to be using this investigation as a special training opportunity for the three of you.”

Maki looked down at the table.

“O- Oh...”

The Captain noticed Maki’s fear... he signaled for A-K to shut off the presentation and got out of his seat.

“Yes, well, I was thinking, and I’m probably not the best person to teach you these things under the current circumstances, so I brought in some help. Verdes!”

“Mm.”

Verdes got up from his seat-

Wait...

Who?

“Hey...”

Maki pointed at the man apparently named Verdes.

“When did you get here!?”

He didn’t respond. He simply kept walking. He was like a ghost; no one saw his legs, for his body was covered in a flowing, large black coat, barely showing any of his bony, dead skin. From the back, his hair looked grey, but it was hard to make out due to the large-rimmed, pitch-black hat that covered his head. He was tall, probably spindly, and gave off an unsettling aura.

“Er... sorry. He’s not much for introductions.”

The Captain walked up to Verdes, put his hand on his shoulder, and he stopped moving.

“This is Verdes Crescere. He’s an Agent of TRIGGER, and part of the Twelfth Generation Team.”

The 23GT spoke in unison.

“That guy... is an Agent of TRIGGER?”

Silence. That is, until Daniel walked forward.

“Well... it will be a pleasure working with you, Verdes!”

He stuck out his hand for a handshake.

Verdes continued his float forward.

Daniel grasped his wrist in pain.

“It feels like... I just stuck my hand out to the grim reaper himself...”

Maki was hiding behind her chair. Suru, however, felt no fear, and dragged the two of them along for their training.

“Don’t be babies. He’s on our team, remember?”

This fact was true. Verdes Crescere was, in fact, a longtime Agent of TRIGGER, and a member of the 12GT. With this in mind, Maki and Daniel tried their best to see the good in him, but the car ride to wherever they were going proved to make that a... difficult task.

“So, Verdes, what do you enjoy? Music? Arts?”

Daniel was trying his best to be friendly. The feeling wasn’t mutual.

“Okay... how about... why did you become an Agent of TRIGGER?”

Still nothing.

Daniel slumped over in his seat, his eyes filled with disappointment.

“I can’t get through to him... he’s too dark... my sparkles... they’re...”

Daniel died.

“H- Hey, uh... where are we going?”

A-K adjusted the rear view mirror as he spoke.

“The campsite.”

Suru looked up.

“Campsite? Why are we going-“

“How many times have you all Linked?”

An unknown, raspy voice filled the car, instantly sending a shiver down everyone’s spines. Suru managed to pull herself together.

“Excuse me?”

The voice sighed, long and cool.

“I said... how many times have you all Linked?”

Suru looked out the window.

“None.”

It seemed like she was frustrated. Her frustration was the least of her concern, however, as she felt a pair of bloodied eyes piercing through her.

“If none of you have Linked... then none of you have the right to ask questions.”

Verdes had turned his head to face the three, showing his bloodshot eyes and face marked with black lines in strange, otherworldly patterns. It felt like a cave of shadows was crumbling in on them, and the only thing to keep them company was the eyes of a hungry predator, lying in wait.

“Knowledge... comes from power. I’ll speak to you as Agents once I’ve seen youAHAHAHAHSHHNFNNNSSSGGGHH”

Verdes abruptly began scratching his head quite... violently. The horrible noises he was making sounded strangely cathartic, at least, for him. For the others, it was simply strange, and completely broke the tension. Once he was done, he looked at his thin, spindly hand.

“This hat... it’s too itchy...!”

Maki raised her hand slightly.

“M... Maybe take it off?”

Verdes snapped his neck around at Maki, giving her an intense glare before returning to his seat.

Maki and Daniel both sank into their seats out of fear, but Suru went back to looking out the window. Marco, Verdes... people were calling her weak. Was she not getting stronger?

“We have arrived.”

The car stopped suddenly, letting the 23GT take in the sights... or, at least, what remained of the sights. Much of the forest had been burnt down, and all that remained of those parts was ashy, charcoal-painted soil. Maki began to walk towards the site.

“Feels kinda weird being here again...”

The scene wasn’t helping her anxiety.

Daniel twirled around, grateful that he could finally stretch his legs.

“It has a certain beauty to it. The marvelous picture that death leaves behind!”

Maki looked at him worriedly.

“Th-... that’s kind of intense.”

He winked.

“Fires tend to be.~”

Suru turned to A-K, who was apparently the last person with any sense of sense left here.

“Can you please tell us what we’re doing?”

A-K pointed to the site.

“We’re simply checking if any clues were left behind by Hydrant. The Captain and DonLeones are reviewing information and strategies back at HQ, so we thought it best to split up.

Suru... was confused.

“How’re we supposed to find clues here? It’s all burnt to the ground.”

“We don’t expect to find much,” continued A-K, now with both hands behind his back, “but there could be something in the soil. A piece of clothing, maybe, some kind of insignia... it might even have something to do with the-“

“PLANTS!”

Verdes let out a shrill shriek at the sight of the crime.

“The... TREES... the FLOWERS... ALL OF THE GREENERY... IT’S ALL GONE!!”

He was wallowing in despair on the ground, head in his hands. Letting out ugly cries left and right, the image he painted of himself only grew weirder and weirder. Suru pointed at him.

“Is he okay?”

A-K walked forward, preparing to search the area.

“He has a passion for botany. He’s very affectionate towards plants.”

Suru followed the robot.

“Seems more like an obsession.”

A-K paid no mind to the wallowing Verdes.

“It is, but that’s not very nice to say.”

Maki and Daniel had already made it into the campsite; their fear of Verdes fueled them to get a jump start on... whatever they were doing.

The next hour or so was slow.

Very, very slow.

After Verdes managed to pick himself off the ground, he immediately went back to being silent, and found parts of the campsite not burned down to take refuge in and examine the health of the area. The 23GT and A-K, however, were stuck with searching a barren wasteland for something they didn’t even know really existed. Suru got more and more fed up, until...

“This is pointless.”

She dropped the stick she was carrying and sat on the ground.

“We’ve been doing this for an hour and we haven’t found anything. What are we supposed to do?”

A-K was rustling through some burnt leaves.

“Keep looking.”

She was getting angry.

“Keep looking for what!?”

Daniel wiped the sweat off of his forehead and stretched.

“I have to say, I think I agree with Suru on this one. What exactly do you expect us to find here?”

A-K stood up and scanned the area for anywhere he hadn’t looked.

“To be perfectly honest, this wasn’t my idea. It was Verdes’.”

“What?”

Suru slowly turned her head to Verdes, who was inspecting a flower silently.

“This creep... made us come all the way here... just so he could look at plants...?”

Daniel began emitting an aura of light.

“That... SCOUNDREL...”

As those two walked to confront Verdes, Maki kept her distance by hiding behind a tree. She didn’t feel like getting caught up in anything.

Suru, however, felt very passionate about getting caught up in something.

“Hey, Verdes! What the hell are you trying to pull!?”

Verdes said nothing. He made no effort to even acknowledge her.

“WOULD YOU SAY SOMETHING!? WE NEED TO BE ON THE SAME PAGE, DON’T WE!?”

Daniel had intended to join in, but... Suru’s anger seemed genuine. Really, really genuine. He wondered if something was bothering her.

“SAY SOMETHING, DAMNIT!”

Verdes sighed.

“It’s not my fault you’re looking for the wrong thing.”

Suru felt Green Star forming in her hand.

“WHAT THE HELL IS THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN!?”

Verdes stood up.

“Do you really need me to spell it out for you?”

Suru said nothing. She only seethed.

“What you’re looking for...”

White particles began to flow around Verdes’ hand.

“... is an enemy.”

Suddenly, the white particles all formed to create a long, white Firearm with a shower head-like muzzle and various multicolored markings plastered onto it. The nozzles abruptly shot out dark, green vines that went into the forest and, only a few seconds later, pulled out someone wearing a full shot of sleek, black armor with magenta highlights circling around their arms, legs and eventually converging into a ‘V’ shape on the front of the helmet. Stylish indeed, their time in the limelight was pulled from under them without warning, as the vines with Venus flytrap-like jaws slammed them onto the ground. Everyone was taken aback as the vines let go and Verdes brought back his powerful Firearm. Suru looked at the figure, then at Verdes, then at the figure, then at Verdes.

“What the hell was that!?”

Verdes’ voice was commanding and ugly.

“The Garden. It shoots plants. Now go take care of it.”

Suru turned back to the figure and brought out Green Star. She saw Maki, nervously hiding behind a tree with Soul Burst in hand... at least she was prepared for combat.

“Daniel! Get out here!”

No response.

“Daniel?”

No response again.

Something was obviously incredibly wrong.

Suru looked to her side, ready to see Daniel turned into a pile of dust, but all she saw was the sparkle child deep in thought... and without sparkle.

“Daniel! You alright!?”

He managed to snap out of it.

“H- Huh...? Oh, yes! Yes, of course! Just, uh...”

He pointed to the figure.

“Are you... a Ranger?”

The figure, who had only just been able to regain their stance, spoke.

“Huh? Yeah, I... hey...”

They pointed at Daniel.

“You’re one of the boss’ kids, right?”

Suru and Maki both looked at Daniel, bewildered.

What did they just say?

“Well, I guess it doesn’t matter.... instructions were to show no mercy, so...”

The figure brought out a small revolver that had a giant gash in the middle that glowed the same magenta as on their outfit and pointed it at Daniel.

“Sorry, kid. Nothin’ personal!”

The figure shot a glowing bullet that was accompanied by a low humming sound, but before it could hit Daniel, one of Green Star’s bullets knocked it away. Upon impact, Green Star’s bullet began vibrating violently before exploding into slime.

Suru was still frustrated.

“What the hell are you doing, Daniel!? What are you two talking about!? WHY IS EVERYONE BEING SO WEIRD TODAY!?”

The figure motioned to the two of them with his revolver.

“Do you not know? This kid’s the-“

The figure jumped back, barely avoiding one of Soul Burst’s shots, and retaliated by shooting the tree Maki was hiding behind. Slowly, it began to vibrate.

“Man, that almost caught me! Man, I need to work out more...”

“Stand down.”

The figure felt a warmth on the back of their neck. It was A-K, pointing a hand cannon at them directly. The figure slowly put up their hands and brought back their Firearm.

“Alright, alright, we’re cool, we’re cool...”

When Suru saw that they were distracted, she went over to Daniel.

“Daniel! What’s wrong!? What were you two talking about!?”

Maki also ran up to Daniel, though she tried to keep a safe distance away from... that person.

“Are you okay??”

Daniel gulped.

“Well, see... I may have mentioned that my father runs the large Nightbright Industries...”

“What about it!?” Yelled Suru.

“Shh!” Said Maki. Let the boy speak.

“Yes, see, he also runs the Nightbright Ranger Corps... they’re a team of trained mercenaries that get paid to complete missions.”

Suru turned to look at the figure.

“You don’t mean...?”

Daniel nodded slowly.

“I’m not part of the Ranger Corps, but I know for a fact...”

The tree the Ranger had shot earlier was now vibrating violently.

“... that anyone in it is way out of our league!”

Maki began to flail around, causing Soul Burst to fire off a few rounds.

“W- W- W- Way out of our league!?!?!? That’s not a very D- Daniel thing to say!!!”

Daniel put his head in his hands, his sparkles twinkling as he too flailed his body around.

“OHHHHHH, I KNOW! I’M SORRY! PLEASE FORGIVE ME, MAKI!!”

As the two of them freaked out, Suru watched the scene behind them unfold. Daniel’s words echoed in her head... way out of our league... way out of our league... our...

... the tree...?

“... Guys, duck!”

Suru grabbed the two of them and brought them to the ground. Right after she did, the three exploded in two, sending wood fragments in every direction... including into an unsuspecting A-K.

CRACK!

A shard landed right in his visor, and the Ranger took the opportunity to ram his elbow into his chest and escape his capture.

“SURU, HOW DARE YOU! THIS SUIT COSTS A-“

Daniel’s adventures in being an aristocrat were cut short by the sight of the Ranger preparing their revolver and aiming it at him and his teammates.

“Fun’s over, guys. Now, let’s just-“

Suddenly, the Ranger was hoisted up into the air by their neck. Grabbing it was a vine, controlled by...

“YOU... THAT TREE... I’M GOING TO SLAUGHTER YOU...”

Before anyone could react, Verdes began swinging around the Ranger, slamming them into the ground over and over before finally throwing them across the horizon.

It was really intense.

The 23GT collectively sighed.

“This is why you have to know yourselves.”

Verdes, surprisingly, was speaking directly to the group.

“Know yourselves, you know your surroundings. Know yourselves, you know your enemy. Know yourselves, you Link with others. Know yourselves...”

He peered into Suru’s eyes.

“And know that you are strengthening.”

For a moment, Suru felt like she finally understood what Verdes was trying to teach her.

And then he began violently scratching his head again with an ugly “HAAGAHSBNNNNNKSSSSNNGGAAAAAHGHH” and decided, nope, he was just weird.

The three of them returned to the car, and for the first time, all three of them were quiet. Not in the bad way, mind you; they wanted to keep their thoughts to themselves, if only for a moment, but still wanted to be next to each other.

Unrelatedly, Verdes was a terrible driver, but no one seemed to notice.

Finally, they arrived back at TRIGGER HQ.

Daniel cleared his throat and put on a shiny smile.

“Well, I suppose it’s confirmed that we’re being targeted by mercenaries for hire. What an exciting revelation~!”

Maki cleared her throat. She had a bit of a headache.

“We have really different definitions of ‘exciting,’ Daniel...”

Suru exited the car, hands in her pockets.

“Danny, carry A-K.”

Daniel shot out of the car.

“Danny!? Again!? Oh, why must you torture me so, Surururu!?”

She looked at him.

“‘Cause it’s funny.”

Daniel put his hands into the sky, grasping at his own fleeting status.

“MY PAIN IS NO JOKE!”

A single tear fell from his cheek. Truly, this performance was a tragedy’s tragedy...

“Hurry up.”

It was Verdes, who had somehow gotten in front of Suru. How could someone that noisy be so silent?

Daniel somberly got A-K out of the car, with Maki following along slowly.

“I need a nap... maybe some aspirin...”

She slowly opened her eyes as she walked. Once her eyes had adjusted to the light, she noticed something weird going on with A-K... a blue light coming from his chest.

“... Hey... what’s up with A-K?”

Daniel looked at him.

“Hm. That’s peculiar.”

Suddenly, the TRIGGER insignia appeared in front of them as a hologram. A loud audio clip emanated from the hologram.

“Everyone! Don’t enter the building! I repeat, do not enter the building!”

Everyone froze in their tracks and listened with increasing horror. It was the Captain, and he sounded... panicked.

“We are currently under attack by... the unknown assailant from the World Summit incident! Do not enter the building! Do not-“

The audio clip flickered out.

Today, the 23GT had been exposed to true strength. They had come into contact with power truly beyond theirs.

Now, they would have to confront it.

“Stephanie Rimer... what a shame that you failed us. Mistress is very disappointed... we no longer have a use for you. However, your Firearm... what did you call it... Quake? Yes, such a pretty thing... used in the right hands, I think it would be a divine weapon, don’t you?

Look into my eye. Isn’t it beautiful? Yes, I’ll be sure to take good care of your power... you need not worry one bit.

Goodnight, Stephanie. Please, enjoy the new dawn. We’ll be sending a few friends your way very, very soon...”

TO BE CONTINUED


	8. Episode 7 - The Door, Pt. II

-01:48 PM, February 13th, 2011-

“Do not enter the building! I repeat, do not enter the building! We are currently under attack from the unknown assailant from the World Summit incident!”

It had only been a few moments since the Captain had sent the frantic-sounding message to the group outside, but the words echoed in the 23GT’s minds so ruthlessly, it felt like an eternity before anyone did anything. The one to eventually break the silence was Verdes, now with his eyes fiercely focused on TRIGGER HQ.

“... You three.”

Maki, Daniel and Suru all looked up at him. His voice was as commanding as it was chilling, and hearing him acknowledge them like this was... exciting, in an anxiety-inducing way. He turned his head slowly to the group, his terrifying eyes casting an overwhelming shadow above them.

“What... are your names?”

Their draws dropped as they spoke in unison.

“You don’t know!?”

“Tell me about your Firearms as well.”

Maki fixed her posture and looked down. She didn’t want to look at Verdes.

“Mr. Crescere... did the Captain not tell you about us?”

Verdes began searching in his cloak for something.

“He did. I didn’t listen.”

Suru’s eye twitched.

“... Is everyone we work with going to be this... problematic?”

She thought of Marco and Eustace and their apparent inability to ever shut up.

Daniel stepped in front of the others, his smile as impeccable as ever.

“Come now, friends, let’s not waste this opportunity for a grand entrance!”

As if he was on a stage and the spotlight was on him, Daniel spun around in a whirlwind of luminescence, stopping suddenly to meet Verdes in the eye.

“Feast your eyes and round your applause, for I... am Daniel Nightbright!”

Verdes muttered to himself.

“Letting a Nightbright join... what the hell was Captain thinking?...”

Daniel didn’t pay mind to Verdes’ comment, choosing only to focus on his dazzling performance.

“My Nova Noir will be the center of attention as its vortices pull in everything in their way! Impressive, non~?”

Striking a pose, rose petals danced in the wind as Daniel’s light show came to a close.

Verdes remained stoic.

“Unimpressive. And your choreography was off.”

The words hit Daniel like a knife to the chest, making him double down in despair as he sobbed glittery tears, whimpering about how hard he had worked on that specific set of steps.

Though she didn’t really understand it, Maki thought it looked really nice.

“Uh... my name is Maki Mai-Dearest. My Firearm, uh... Soul Burst, it gets more powerful the more emotional I get.”

“That’s vague.”

Verdes walked over to Maki, crouching down to meet her at eye level.

“U- Uh... d- did I say something wrong...?”

*prick!*

Maki yelped in pain as Soul Burst launched a bright pink shot into the sky, managing to only barely miss an unimpressed Suru. Tears welled up in Maki’s eyes as she held down the spot where Verdes had pricked her.

“Wh- What was that for!?”

Verdes was looking towards the sky, his eyes fixated on the spot that Soul Burst’s shot had dissipated.

“So any sudden emotional outburst can cause an instantaneous shot to be fired... hmph.”

He threw Maki a bandaid, which she quickly put over the wound. As she continued to sniffle, Verdes turned his attention to Suru. A moment of silence was shared between the two before Suru finally spoke up.

“What? Whaddya want?”

Verdes remained silent.

Suru’s eye twitched again.

What was with this guy?

“Surururu Rurururu. I can change the molecular structure of my Green Star’s bullets, which come out as a soft gelatin. Can we get to work now?”

Verdes watched Suru as she studied TRIGGER HQ. It was a massive building, lined with pure white steel that gleamed with the light of justice. Its walls were as heavily fortified as walls could be, no windows on any side to break in through... the only entrance to speak of were the front two doors, but...

“The perpetrator couldn’t have just walked in, if that’s what you’re thinking.”

Verdes sat down and opened the unconscious A-K’s chest-plate.

“The doors are coded to your biological signatures. If someone who isn’t in the system tries walking through, they get electrocuted.”

Verdes scratched his head as he messed with A-K’s internal wiring. Daniel bent down to take a look at what Verdes was trying to do.

“I didn’t know you were good with wires, Verdes! I suppose it’s because they’re kind of like plant root-“

“Shut up.”

Verdes’ ghastly, commanding voice reverberated through Daniel as he walked back over to Maki and collapsed onto her.

“I just can’t win, Maki... I suppose chronic incompetence is my birthright...”

Maki didn’t know how to respond to that, so she simply patted Daniel’s head a few times while saying, “No, y- you’re good.”

She was trying her best not to have Soul Burst fire. Emotional support was never her forte, but she also didn’t want to leave Daniel like this, and in the back of her mind she was afraid that her helping would just make things worse and it was all very stressful and-

She looked around. She decided the best thing to do right now was to try and help with the more pressing situation.

“C’mon, Daniel... I- I think we should go help Suru. And, uh, don’t worry about Verdes. I don’t think he likes me either.”

Daniel didn’t respond. He only cried soft, passionate tears.

Maki sighed and proceeded to drag him across the ground to Suru.

“S- So... what should we do?”

Suru closed her eyes and took a seat on the ground.

“I dunno. Wish I could know more about the perp’s Firearm.”

The gears clicked in Maki’s head.

“Oh! W- Well, I-“

“Maki! You faced off against the same mysterious assailant during the Summit, yes? Tell us all about them!”

Daniel’s sudden recovery from his self-imposed prison of misery startled Maki, almost causing Soul Burst to fire a small shot. She was luckily able to catch herself before this could happen, and turned to Daniel.

“... Right. You recover from things pretty quickly, huh, Daniel...?”

Daniel smirked a satisfied smirk.

“Yes, yes I do. It’s one of my many talents.~”

Suru, still on the ground, cleaned her glasses as she waited for Maki to speak.

“Well, i- it seemed like the attack had started as soon as I reentered the meeting room Captain was in... uh... I opened the door, a- and then suddenly I was falling through a... well, a sorta void space thing? And then I was back in the lobby...”

Suru opened one eye. This was getting weird.

“... uh... Captain and the DonLeones were there too. It’s kind of h- hard to explain, but it was like... the room was surrounded by identical rooms, and they a- all lead back to the first room... y- yeah.”

Daniel tipped the bow of his hat down, a stylish way of indicating the fact that he was trying to make sense of the situation.

“Hmm... the lobby... Suru, that’s where we found the actual criminal, yes? Maybe that has something to do with how their abilities work.”

Suru stood up, both her eyes now open.

“A Firearm that creates an infinite number of the same room... that’s hard to wrap your head around. Still doesn’t explain how you managed to get to the lobby through the meeting room.”

Maki lightly kicked up some dust.

“Yeah... kind of hard to imagine one Firearm doing all that, h- huh...?”

The 23GT were hit with a mental impasse. How did all this fit together? More importantly, how were they going to fix it? They couldn’t stand around here forever. And what was Verdes doing with A-K, anyway? These questions ran over and over again through their heads, until...

A lightbulb.

A glorious lightbulb, shining brighter than any lightbulb that had come before it. The gears had all clicked, the logic was airtight... Daniel had figured it out.

“I’ve got it! What if there was a second Firearm!?”

Maki and Suru both looked at their sparkly comrade with confusion. Suru spoke.

“Uh... y’mean like a second perp? ‘Cause the other guy at the-“

“No, no, no, not a second assailant! A second Firearm!”

Maki blinked.

“I don’t get it.”

Daniel put his hands up and began to use complicated gestures to demonstrate his theory.

“All of that is too much for one Firearm to do, correct? It’s simply not feasible! But perhaps the warping from the meeting room to the lobby and the endless rooms are two different abilities working in unison!”

Suru nodded.

“Yeah... one of the Firearms creates copies of the same room, and another one teleports people, I guess... makes sense.”

Maki nodded.

“M- Maybe you have to enter the room to be transported to the... uh, other rooms. If she made the door to the meeting room a- a transport to the lobby, she could instantly trap anyone who tried to go in there. A- And if she can make portals through doors, that would e- explain how she managed to get into the building.”

Daniel gave Maki a thumbs up.

“Oooh, I like that idea! Excellent job, Maki!”

His perfect teeth glittered as he smiled at Maki. She blushed.

“... Th- Thanks, Daniel!”

Suru’s eyes stared down TRIGGER HQ with resolve.

“So... the unidentified perp from the Summit got into TRIGGER HQ with her portal-door Firearm and managed to trap Captain and the Chiefs of Police somewhere in the building with her infinite rooms Firearm... probably so that they could blackmail us for the information they failed to retrieve at the Summit.”

She yawned.

“Honestly, that’s way too complicated. Couldn’t they have just gone and fought us directly like the rest of ‘em?”

Daniel put her arm around Suru.

“Oh, Suru, dear, look on the bright side~! We get to stop a dastardly plot composed by an equally dastardly ne’er-do-well, it’s all so exciting! Can you not feel the adrenaline rushing through you!? I bet Maki can feel the adrenaline rushing through her! MAKI!”

He pointed at Maki.

“Can’t you feel the adrenaline rushing through you!?”

“Uh-“

“SEE!? MAKI UNDERSTANDS!”

Daniel was absolutely on fire at the thought of stopping the unknown crook. Suru theorized that it probably stemmed from the fact that whoever this was had been working with the guy who “sullied his image.” Whatever. At least it meant he wouldn’t get distracted. Hopefully.

“I didn’t know someone could have two Firearms.”

Maki kept going over the information in her head.

“Don’t Firearms, uh... come out of our psyches... or whatever?”

“Oh, it’s very rare!”

Daniel rushed over to Maki and quickly began expositing.

“Though the cause has never clearly been defined, Firearm-psychoanalysts have theorized that one person having more than one Firearm can happen for any number of reasons! Multiple personalities, having to split oneself between two lifestyles, self-acceptance of one’s true identity, but most of the time it’s just trauma!”

Maki stared at Daniel with big, scared eyes, and said nothing. Daniel just sort of kept talking.

Suru walked over to Verdes, who had finished messing with A-K’s internal wiring and was now studying the assorted flowers that lined the front of TRIGGER HQ.

Frankly, this guy annoyed Suru to no end.

“Hey. We figured out what the perp’s power is.”

Verdes didn’t pay attention to her.

“Well, are you gonna help us already or not!? The entire time we’ve been here, all you’ve done is-“

“The break room.”

Huh?

“Huh? What about it?”

“That’s where the signal from Captain was sent. The room they copied is probably that one.”

Suru was taken aback. Had this guy been listening to them talk?

“... Was that what you had been figuring out here?”

“You want to get stronger.”

Verdes looked at Suru with his piercing, bloodshot eyes.

“Everything you’ve done as an Agent of TRIGGER have been tests, including the current situation. If you want to flunk out and come begging for me to take charge, I won’t argue, but if you truly do want to improve, I suggest you try and collaborate with me instead of expecting me to take care of everything just because I’m more experienced.”

Suru clenched her fist.

“I hate getting lectured at.”

She turned back to the building, and tried coming up with a plan...

... yeah, that’ll work.

“Your Firearm shoots vines, yeah?”

“All types of plants.”

Suru nodded and signaled for Verdes to follow.

“... FURTHERMORE, scientists still aren’t sure- oh, hello, Suru!”

Daniel has been talking at Maki this whole time, who looked just about ready to collapse.

“Guys, I have a plan.”

Suru summoned Green Star and shot large, bronze-colored bullets at the edge of the front door.

Maki kind of wanted to touch one.

“What are these?”

Suru picked a rock up off the ground and threw it through the doorway... nothing.

“A sticky rubber-like substance. It should block the conductors on the door from shocking Verdes’ vines.”

She turned to the aforementioned man.

“Verdes, you’re gonna use your Firearm to shoot vines along the ground and find us a safe route into the lobby. We don’t know which doors the perp has turned into portals, so once you do find a safe route, have the vine that leads there bloom.”

Verdes was silent for a moment. As he opened his mouth, a dark, oppressive fog filled the air...

“Okay.”

Daniel collapsed.

“SURU! How did you manage to get him on your side!? Please, tell me your secret!”

She shrugged.

“WOE IS ME...!”

A bolt of lightning struck Daniel’s heart. What a truly awful turn of events...!

Verdes summoned The Garden and shot a series of vines onto the floor. Passing through the gateway no problem, they all sprawled out in every direction, stopping and and starting again over and over, until... one bloomed!

Suru summoned Green Star once again.

“That’s the one. Let’s go, guys.”

“Roger!”

“O- Okay...”

Maki and Daniel both started their trek through the building. Before going in, Suru turned her head back to Verdes.

“... Thanks, by the way.”

Verdes sighed.

“We’re all on the same team. Helping each other is just part of that.”

Suru closed her eyes. Maybe he wasn’t so-

“BNNANAHAHHAGAGSNNNHHHNSNHHHHHHHHHHHH... WHYDOESTHISHATHAVETOBESOITCHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY”

-nope, he was definitely that bad. Suru left the itchy Verdes to deal with his own misery as she followed Maki and Daniel into TRIGGER HQ.

The three of them walked in silence.

Complete silence.

Well, almost complete. Daniel was whistling.

They had made it pretty close to the lobby before Maki stopped to ask a question.

“Hey, Suru?”

Suru looked back at her.

“Huh?”

“Couldn’t you have just blown up one of the walls instead of... uh, doing that rubber stuff?”

Suru raised an eyebrow.

“The walls here are made outta, like, super titanium or somethin’. In order to blow one up you’d need an explosion a lot bigger than anything I could muster up.”

“Like what?”

“I dunno, a giant space cannon?”

Daniel chuckled.

“Suru, please. There are no cannons in space.”

“... Didn’t we fight a whole war in space?”

“We helped fight a war on Planet Pistola. There’s a difference!”

Suru sighed.

“Whatever you say. C’mon guys, let’s-“

They stopped.

The other person stopped too.

“Y’know, this vine thing you sent is pretty annoying. I had some pretty neat tricks planned, but now you’ve gone and ruined the fun. I guess you guys figured out how my Firearms work?”

Daniel began to strut forward.

“In fact, yes we- HMPDHF”

“Don’t answer that.”

Suru covered Daniel’s mouth with her hand as the blue-haired woman in the black hoodie stared her down.

“Name’s Rebecca, by the way. Rebecca Wallis. Just wanted to make sure you didn’t think I went by some stupid codename like my partner Razzi... thanks for dropkicking him, by the way. Really appreciate that.”

Other than the sounds of a muffled Daniel, the room was engulfed in silence.

“Well... tough crowd, I guess. Aren’t you guys supposed to have wacky personalities? Or is that just on TV?... Ah, doesn’t matter.”

Rebecca cracked her knuckles.

“I’m gonna take care of you guys anyway.”

Suddenly, three more Rebeccae appeared on the other side of the room and put the three in a chokehold. Suru wasn’t having it.

“What, she can copy herself, too!? I hate this!”

She shot one of the Rebeccae in the face, causing it to shatter into tiny, bright-blue colored glass shards.

“I suppose this explains how she managed to escape the first time we encountered her!”

Daniel hit one with the back end of Nova Noir, which also caused it to shatter.

“Guys... there are sTILL MORE COMING-“

Maki was freaking out at the approaching army of Rebeccae, which she was doing her best to keep at bay with rapid fire shots from Soul Burst. Suru bit down on her lip.

“Shit... we’re never gonna make it to her real body at this rate!”

“Not true!”

Daniel twirled and flipped through the air, landing right in front of the Rebeccae’s path.

“Maki and I will handle things here! You go on ahead and stop this dastardly assailant for good!”

Maki jumped and looked at Daniel.

“We’ll what!?”

“You have our word~!”

Daniel gave her a thumbs up.

“Go on, now!”

Suru nodded and rushed ahead. Maybe Daniel just wanted to be in the spotlight, but... he was still pretty reliable.

“Alright, Maki! I have a plan!”

Maki was slowly backing away as the Rebeccae came closer.

“A- A- Are you gonna tell me what it is!?”

“No!”

Maki almost fainted. She should’ve known.

“All I need you to do is make Soul Burst as big as you can make it, prepare a shot and hold it steady!”

Daniel ran away from the action.

“Wh- WHY ARE YOU RUNNING??”

“It’s all part of the plaaaa~~~~~n!”

Maki decided she’d never figure out what was going on in his head and just tried to focus on keeping Soul Burst steady while she waited for Daniel to do... something.

“Daniel... Daniel... Daniel!? I- I can’t keep this up for much longer!!”

Soul Burst had become almost twice Maki’s height as it shook and glowed a bright pink.

“Daniel!? DANIEL!? I’M KIND OF FREAKING OUT HERE!!”

With every second, the Rebeccae army drew nearer and nearer.

“DAAAAAAANIIIEEEEEEEEL!!!!”

The Rebeccae army had reached her...

When, suddenly, a jet-black bullet fell from the ceiling and erupted into a giant vortex! The Rebeccae army all became ensnared in its cosmic grasp, which set up the clones like bowling pins for Maki to knock down! She looked up- Daniel had-

Oh, good lord, he had jumped from a few floors above them.

“Okay, Maki! Fire away!”

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA”

Maki screamed as a massive shot from Soul Burst flung her and the midair Daniel backwards into the corner of the room. An explosion of black, blue and pink created a huge mess, but the resulting shower of blue glass shards was beautiful to look at.

Daniel sat up almost immediately after being knocked back.

“Aha! I told you I had a plan, didn’t I~?”

Maki also sat up, coughing and out of breath.

“H- How... how did you know where to go w- without getting trapped in her room?”

Daniel opened his mouth to say something, but reason had failed him.

“I suppose I’m just lucky!”

He laughed to himself as Maki fell over in the rubble.

“I hope Suru is okay.”

Daniel sat down next to her.

“Oh, she’ll be fine. She’s Suru! Her call to action, leadership, drive- everything about her is commendable! Nothing could ever, ever get in her way!”

At the same time, Suru was sleeping.

Well, sleep-running.

Suffice to say, she banged her head up against a wall. At least she was awake now. Wait a second... this was the break room! But, uh... the vine directed her towards a nearby vent.

Well, whatever.

Inside the break room, the real Rebeccae was sitting in front of a computer screen, watching a video on unsolved murders while eating chips. Life was good.

Until, y’know, the ceiling vent came loose and a purple-haired lady dropped down in front of her.

“Hey.”

Rebecca bit her tongue.

“You seriously got past my clones *and* my labyrinth!? Jeez, maybe you’re not as stupid as you- HEY!”

Suru had dozed off again. She quickly woke up.

“Huh?”

“... I’m sick of you, y’know that!?”

Rebecca pulled out one of her Firearms.

“If I get this info, I’ll have it made! Y’know how much money I was offered for this!? Honestly!”

Suru yawned and looked around.

“Really, you’ve given me so much trouble... my partner is in jail because of you, y’know!”

After rummaging through a drink cooler to see if there was anything good, Suru stood up and summoned Green Star.

“But now... ohohoh, now you’ll have to deal with me! So whatcha gonna do, huh!? Shoot me!? Go ahead! Take your best-“

Suru fired, hitting the wall behind Rebecca instead.

“You missed!- AGHHHHH”

Suru then chucked a can of orange soda at her forehead, managing to knock her out and cover her in fizzy orange soda in the process.

The walls all erupted into blue glass, and suddenly, the Captain and DonLeones were in the break room with Suru.

“I’M TELLING YOU FOR THE LAST TIME, MARCO, WE’RE NOT-... oh, hello, Miss Rurururu! Did you manage to-“

“DON’T CHANGE THE SUBJECT, EUSTACE!”

“I’M TRYING TO THANK HER FOR SAVING US!”

As always, the DonLeones did nothing but bicker.

Captain smiled at her.

“Thank you, Suru. I’m sorry I couldn’t have assisted you more. You did excellent!”

Suru shrugged.

“Thanks, Cap, but it wasn’t just me. Be sure to thank Maki and Daniel, too... oh, and Verdes.”

Captain smiled even wider.

“Glad to see you’re getting along!”

Captain pat Suru on the shoulder, turned around, and cleared his throat.

“Marco! Eustace! We have to fix this mess!”

The two stopped bickering and turned to follow Captain. Marco muttered under his breath.

“Yeah, yeah...”

Eustace whispered to Suru as he left the room.

“Sorry to have troubled you! Truly! Very sorry!”

Suru closed her eyes and slowly followed the group. She decided she needed a nap.

When the group made outside, they found Maki, Daniel and Verdes taking it easy outside. At the sight of the group, Daniel’s face lit up and he stood to greet them.

“Everyone! Hello! So glad you haven’t been sentenced to an infinite break room prison!”

Captain waved.

“Glad to see you’re all doing well as well!”

Maki had been laying down, but she weakly waved a hand up to greet them.

“Hiiii... does anyone have an aspirin...?”

Eustace rummaged around his pockets.

“Just a second, please...”

Captain walked over to Verdes, who was sitting over the out-of-commission A-K.

“How’s he doing, Verdes?”

Verdes was reading a book, which he did not look up from.

“He’ll be fine. Just be careful with taking him inside.”

Captain nodded. He turned around to face everyone.

“Twenty-Third Generational Team of TRIGGER Agents!”

Maki, Daniel and Suru all stood up and saluted... albeit tiredly.

“Yes, Sir!”

Captain saluted them back.

“We are in your debt! Your efforts today were valiant, commendable, and were the reason this conflict did not spiral out of control! We are in your debt! Thank you!”

“Yes, Sir! Thank you, Sir!”

“Also, I am very proud of you!”

That one caught them off guard.

“Y- Yes, sir! Thank you, Sir!”

Captain chuckled.

“You’re dismissed! Have a nice day!”

“Understood!”

They relaxed. Daniel laughed.

“We did good today, guys! Let’s be sure to do good again tomorrow, yes?”

Maki nodded.

“Yeah. I... I think we’re doing well for just starting. Don’t you, Suru- oh.”

Suru was asleep on the ground, and she would stay like that for a few more hours. But, if she had been awake, she would’ve wholeheartedly agreed with Maki.

Well, as wholeheartedly as Suru can agree to something, anyway.

“SURURURU... YOU’RE CRUSHING THE GRASS WITH YOUR DISGUSTING BODY...!”

Verdes might disagree, though.

TO BE CONTINUED


	9. Episode 8 - Captain Ammo Shotglock Saves the World

-10:58 PM, February 27th, 2111-

“Well, that sucked.”

The 23GT walked slowly back to the car, tired from a long, annoying fight. Daniel tried wiping something off of his shirt.

“Honestly, what kind of Firearm only shoots waves of salt!? My outfit is ruined!”

Maki had a wet towel over her face.

“At least it didn’t get in your eyes...!”

It was dark out, and the only light they saw was from A-K, who was waiting outside the car.

“Excellent job. How did the fight go?”

Suru sighed.

“I wouldn’t say it’s the worst fight we’ve ever had. Not that that makes it any better. Still sucked.”

A-K nodded.

“Well, here’s to hoping the next one sucks less. I’ll drive you all home, so bring your outfits with you next time so I can wash them.”

Daniel wiped a bead of glorious sweat off his forehead.

“Oh, thank goodness... and thank you, A-K!”

A-K nodded again.

“Of course.”

The three sat down in the backseat, and sat in silence while A-K drove to each of their houses. Well, except Suru. She fell asleep.

“Hey, Maki.”

Daniel was nudging Maki on the shoulder, though it took her a second to respond. She had been spacing out.

“Uh, yeah?”

“What do you think Captain does in his free time?”

Maki blinked.

“What?”

“Even the Captain must have times of leisure, right? What do you think he does in his spare time?”

Maki thought for a moment.

“Well, I know he has a cat, but... I dunno.”

Daniel smiled.

“Fascinating! I’ll have to ask him at some point.”

Daniel looked at the front seat.

“Do you have free time, A-K?”

A-K readjusted his lens.

“I was made to assist the Agents of TRIGGER. Any free time I could hypothetically have would probably just go into that. As for the Captain, he’s currently using some of his spare time for important matters.”

Daniel perked up.

“Really? What’s he doing?”

A-K thought for a moment.

“Well, he’s...”

...

On the other side of the city, a woman sat at a table in the middle of a high-class restaurant alone. She had on a well-fitted black dress, high heels, and a lovely necklace. Her pastel indigo hair was in a bun, and she had just finished cleaning her glasses before a tall, burly man in a green suit came in and sat down on the other side of the table.

“Liv, I’m so sorry I’m late, it’s just-“

Liv smiled at the man.

“Mo, I’ve told you a million times, don’t be sorry! I know your job is important. What matters is that you’re here now.”

She put her hand over his. Mo sighed.

“Thank you, Olivia, it’s just... well, I know we don’t get to go out so often anymore, and-“

Liv pointed at herself.

“Hey, hey, look at me.”

Mo looked up. She had on a soft smile.

“Don’t worry about the past or the future, okay? Focus on the now. Right now, we’re together, and we’re having a nice time, and we’re going to eat some really good food, okay?”

He smiled back, clenching her hand in his.

“Okay.”

They looked into each other’s eyes... before Mo suddenly started rummaging around in his clothes.

“Just a second...”

Liv took a sip of her wine.

“What’s wrong?”

He pulled something out of his pocket.

“I forgot to put my ring on. I take it off during the day so that it doesn’t get damaged.”

Liv chuckled.

“Aw... you’re cute!”

Mo laughed nervously as he rubbed the back of his head and blushed. A waiter came over to the table and handed them both menus. He turned to Mo.

“You have a visitor outside.”

Mo looked surprised. He turned to Liv, who shrugged.

Hm.

He got up, pushed in his chair and went outside.

“GREETINGS, CAPTAIN!”

As soon as he stepped out, Captain was greeted with the sore sight of someone with a large afro wearing fake horns.

“It is I... RODERICK XEN! I have come here to KILL YOU! With my Firearm STAMPEDER, I can summon a HERD OF RAGING BUFFALO IN AN-“

Captain flicked a bright yellow shot at him that coursed through his chest as bright, cubic lines. The shot, so fast and powerful that any normal person wouldn’t have been able to catch it, rendered Roderick instantly unconscious. He fell onto the pavement with a loud thump.

Jeez, it was cold out.

Mo returned to the table to find Liv buried in an extensive menu.

“Hey, do you think I should go with the chicken parm or the steak? They both look good.”

Mo sat down.

“Well, what sides come with the chicken parm?”

Liv pointed at Mo.

“That’s a good point. I’m gonna go steak.”

Mo nodded.

“I’ll go with the chicken parm. That way you can still have that if the steak isn’t good.”

Liv slammed her menu down onto the table.

“Mo. You’re too nice. Get something you want!”

Mo smiled.

“I love chicken parm!”

They both giggled.

“Hey, who was the visitor, by the way?”

Mo put his wine down.

“Oh, uh, friend from work. They saw me come in and wanted to say hi.”

Liv smiled.

“Ah. And how’s work?”

Mo put his hand up to his chin.

“It’s, uh... well, you may have saw on the news-“

“Yeah, I know about all that. How are the kids, I mean?”

Mo’s face lit up.

“Oh, they’re doing great! They’ve improved so much over a short amount of time, and they make HQ brighter, and-“

He saw Liv. She had her hand over her mouth and a look on her face like she was about to start laughing. Mo stopped.

“-What? What’s that look for?”

She chuckled.

“Oh, nothing, nothing! It’s just... well, you look really cute when you get excited.

Mo was shocked.

“I... I do?”

“You look like a big teddy bear.”

Mo blushed.

“Well, why are you laughing about it?”

Liv chuckled to herself.

“Because I’m happy! I’m really happy for you! Not everyone gets to do something they love, but you’re so passionate about your work, it’s just... one of the reasons I love you.”

Mo smiled.

“I love you too.”

A little bit after that, the waiter came back and took their orders. Mo excused himself to the restroom. Once he entered, a flash appeared in front of him, and one of the bathroom mirrors spat out a man wearing no shirt.

“Captain... we finally meet! My name is-“

Before the man could even finish his sentence, Captain had gotten behind him, knocked him out and threw him back into the mirror. With that settled, he opened up a-

“Surprise, Captain! I am-“

Captain threw the man in the stall into the mirror before he even had the chance to register the fact that Captain had noticed him.

Once Captain finished up his real business, he went back to the table.

Liv had her phone out.

“So, I was playing with Powder, right? And he did this really cute thing where he, like, tripped over his own tail! It’s really cute, I got it on video!”

She showed him the video, which got a nice chuckle out of him. Once he stopped, he looked down at the table with a blank look on his face. Liv put her phone away.

“Is something wrong?”

Mo sighed.

“No, I... I don’t know. The kids, they’re doing great, really great, but... I feel guilty for having to put them through so much this early in their training."

Liv put her hand out to meet his.

“Oh, honey... please, you shouldn’t feel guilty. You don’t control when villains attack. They’ll be okay.”

Mo looked up at her.

“I know, but... it’s my responsibility to-“

“It’s your responsibility to make sure the nation is safe by training the best of the best, and from what I hear, these kids are turning out to be fantastic Agents.

Liv’s smile was calming.

“And, if something really bad does end up happening, they have the strongest, bravest, kindest guy in the universe to protect them.”

Mo was at a loss for words. He felt like he was on the verge of tears.

“Thank you, Liv... I really-“

BAM

The roof of the restaurant suddenly exploded into dust, revealing a woman in a yellow corset standing above them.

“Pleasure to meet you, Captain! My name... is Apocalyptica! I’ve come here to kill you, once and for all.

He looked at Liv. She was okay.

“See this? This is my Firearm, Doomsday! Anything its shots touch instantly turn into dust!”

Apocalyptica began charging a massive shot from Doomsday, eventually becoming almost as big as the restaurant itself.

“I’ve destroyed entire buildings with this thing in the blink of an eye! Not even a raging meteor could stop it! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!”

Captain stood up and clenched his fist. Glowing, yellow lines ran down his hand, turning his skin a shiny metal.

“But... I suppose I’ve spent enough time talking, haven’t I!?”

She pressed down on Doomsday’s trigger.

“Sayonara forever, Captain Ammo-“

“BEAR FIST!”

Captain punched the air in front of him, the crack of his fist echoing throughout the room like a gunshot. A massive wave of bright energy hit Doomsday’s bullet, the energy coursing through it faster than anyone could keep up with. It made its way up to Doomsday itself, up Apocalyptica’s arm, and, in an instant, the bullet exploded in a blinding explosion of energy and Apocalyptica was sent flying so far and so fast that one could only imagine she eventually made her way to space.

Everything was silent. The day was saved. Captain turned to the waiter next to him.

“Can I change my order to take-out?”

The next day, Captain walked into TRIGGER HQ with a plastic bag containing a styrofoam container in his hands, only to find the 23GT and A-K waiting for him.

“CAPTAIN!”

Daniel jumped up from the couch he had been sitting on.

“You never told us you were married!”

Captain looked down at his hand.

He hadn’t taken his ring off yet.

And then, Captain laughed.

TO BE CONTINUED


	10. Episode 9 - Highway Ranger

-08:27 AM, March 19th, 2111-

“Yoo-hoo! Maki! Come along, now!”

Just after the sun had risen, Daniel and Suru had been driven by A-K to Maki’s apartment complex. It was a humble little place; a friendly community, a nearby park, and, all around, simply peaceful.

Not this morning, however.

This morning was accompanied by an impatient Daniel.

“It’s important to stick to curfew, Maki! We’ll be laaaaaaate~!”

Daniel had his head out the window, yelling at Maki’s entire complex for her to hurry up.

“Danny, you’re disturbing the peace.”

Suru was wrapped in blankets on the other side of the car, trying to get some extra shut-eye.

“Suru, by this time, people have already left for work! Besides, a wake-up call never hurt anyone!”

“Fine, then, you’re disturbing my peace.”

She tucked herself tighter into the blankets.

Suddenly, a door near the top opened, and out came Maki scrambling down the stairs in order to get to the car. Once she squirmed into her seat, she took a minute to breathe.

“Daniel... I had to feed my bird...”

Daniel rolled up the window and smiled.

“And how is Edward?”

“He’s... well, he’s fed.”

She rubbed her eyes.

“Hi, A-K.”

A-K looked behind him.

“Hello, Maki. How are you today?”

“... Tired. Why did we have to get up so early again...?”

A-K smoothly exited the complex and began making his way to the highway.

“Battle training with the DonLeones. The Captain said it might be good to spar with someone... not necessarily trying to kill you.”

The three shuddered and clenched their faces in disgust at the mention of NPD Chiefs. Suru poked her head out from the covers.

“Does it really have to be them? They’re so... loud.”

Maki fiddled with her thumbs.

“W- Well, Mr. Eustace is nice... but... Marco...”

Maki shuddered at the thought. A-K adjusted the front view mirror.

“Oh, it won’t just be the DonLeones.”

They sighed.

“It’ll also be your fellow Agent, Verdes.”

And, back to clenching. Daniel reached for his back pocket, scoffing at their names.

“Ugh, so unkempt! Just thinking about those imbeciles makes me want to bathe.”

He pulled out a wet wipe and began sanitizing his hands.

“I can understand their skill, but must they be so brash? Honestly...”

Suru looked at him, squinting.

“Do you just... have those on you?”

Daniel grinned, his teeth sparking.

“Why, yes, yes I do. Would you like one?”

Suru nodded, taking one and putting it up to her face.

“They smell nice.”

Maki sighed as A-K pulled into the highway.

“Why does everyone we work with have to be like... that? Is that what happens to people who do this for...”

She looked out the window.

“... f- for a long time?”

A-K tried his best to compute some comforting words.

“Verdes Crescere has always been somewhat of a botany fanatic. I can’t say anything about the DonLeones, however. They were officers before I was built.”

Suru put the wet wipe away from her face, squinting.

“A-K, how old are you?”

A-K thought for a moment. Hmm...

“My earliest recollection dates back to around fourteen years ago, though the Captain has requested that the exact reason and method of my creation remains classified.”

Daniel sprung up, enthralled at the prospect of a devilish secret.

“Private, you say? Oh, my curiosity’s peaked! A-K, you must tell us!”

A-K shook his head.

“Denied. The Captain has directly ordered to have my creation remain classified...”

As Daniel and A-K went back and forth, Maki continued looking out the window. The roads were empty, and the city reflected the brilliant orange sunrise. Maki took solace in this moment; she felt like this was the first time in a while she hadn’t been forced into a life-threatening situation with a maniac shooting some kind of strange bullet at...

... is that a skateboard?

Maki moved her eyes upward to see a figure dressed in sleek, black armor with neon orange highlights riding on... a skateboard. The armor had two spike-like attachments protruding out of the front sides of the helmet, along with a jagged pattern in the same neon orange color near the bottom. It gave Maki the impression of some cackling hyena... in the middle of the highway... on a skateboard.

Wait...

“H- Hey, A-K... how fast are we going right now...?”

A-K checked the speed.

“Approximately forty-five miles per hour, in accordance with the speed limit.

Daniel looked towards Maki.

“Maki, what are you- HAGAHAH”

Daniel quickly pushed Maki down to the floor of the car along with himself, trembling all the while. Suru looked at the figure, who was now staring down the vehicle.

“A-K, we have an enemy. Looks a lot like the one we saw when we went back to the camping site.”

Suru brought out Green Star, quickly taking the sheets off of herself and aiming it at the figure.

“Keep the car steady, I’ll-“

“Wait, Suru.”

Suru looked at A-K. He sounded... different. At least, he sounded more serious than his usual robotic monotone.

“I’ll take care of it. Can you drive? It is imperative we get you to HQ in spite of this interruption.”

Suru nodded.

“Yeah, I can, but aren’t we in training? Shouldn’t we be handling this?”

A-K turned his right hand into an arm cannon.

“It’s true you all are in training, but you are not yet fully integrated into TRIGGER.”

He began to step out of the car through the window.

“Besides, you haven’t even clocked in yet.”

A-K jumped out of the car, causing it to momentarily swerve before Suru got to the front seat and gained control. Maki managed to escape Daniel’s grasp and turned to look at Suru.

“C- Can you really drive?”

Suru kept her foot on the gas pedal.

“No, but I’ve seen it done enough times to be able to wing it.”

There was a thump on the roof of the car.

“Identify yourself.”

A-K was standing on the roof, his arm cannon pointed at the figure on the skateboard. There was something strange about it... other than the fact that it was traveling forty-five on a highway.

“Who, me?”

The figure tapped his own chest.

A-K nodded. The figure relaxed his shoulders.

“Ah, I’m a Ranger. Er, a member of the Nightbright Industries Ranger Corps. You seem pretty...”

The figure waved his hand at A-K.

“... advanced. You know about us, yeah?”

A-K went through his logs. His most recent encounter with a Ranger was, like Maki said, during the return to the camping grounds, but that was not the first time Rangers had attacked Agents of TRIGGER. Not by a mile.

“I’m more than familiar with the Rangers... and your vendetta against us.”

The figure put his hands behind his helmet.

“Yeah, our boss is pretty passionate about not letting you guys do your jobs in peace.”

The figure kick-flipped onto the roof of the car. A-K realized what was wrong with the skateboard... it hadn’t been on the ground at all. For a moment, A-K saw what appeared to be writing on the other side of the board...

”ｉｔ ｆｌｉｅｓ．“

He landed, pulling out a large, short gun. It had one, big muzzle with twenty-seven small keys on top of it. A small horizontal screen was above those, making the whole thing look like a typewriter on a gun handle.

“Name’s Tabloider. Well, Tabloider’s my codename. I’m here to silence you Agents.”

Tabloider maneuvered his thumbs along the keys before shooting out a bullet to the roof of the car. A-K slid back, expecting some kind of impact... but there was none. All that was there was words.

“ｉｔ ｇｏｔ ｓｃｒａｔｃｈｅｄ．“

Deep scratch marks appeared around the area where the words were fired. A-K looked up at Tabloider, the spikes on his back firing off some sparks of electricity.

“What’ll it be, circuits?”

A-K stood straight up, his frontal camera a brighter red, and pointed his arm cannon at Tabloider.

“I’ve decided to use a bit more force than necessary to deal with you. Think of it as payback for scratching my car.”

The two rushed each other. Bullets began to fly, the air was chaos, and a concerned Maki poked at a new scratch mark that went through the roof of the car.

“Uh... do you guys think A-K will be o- okay?”

Suru readjusted her glasses.

“Eh, he’ll be fine. He’s trained. Besides, I think you should be more concerned about Danny.”

Maki looked down. Daniel was trembling under the car seat. He looked like a puppy going to the vet... well, a sparkly puppy. Maki gulped.

“Uh... Daniel, are you doing o-“

Daniel shot up and dusted off his suit.

“Okay!? Am I okay!? Yes, yes, I’m perfectly fine! Don’t worry about me!”

He laughed as he slowly began to crawl under the seat again.

“Yes, yes, just don’t let the enemy see me-“

Suru turned around, sighing. Maki began frantically pointing at the wheel, hoping Suru would notice. Soul Burst began to go a bit crazy.

“Dude, why are you afraid of these guys? I mean, yeah, they’re trying to kill us, but plenty of people do that already, and you’re not scared of them.”

Daniel began slowly backing into the corner of his seat.

“Afraid!? Ha! I’m not afraid! I just...”

He looked around. Maki continued to freak out.

“... my hair! My hair is untidy, yes! I can’t be seen like this, especially not by one of the Brightnight Industries associates!”

Suru rubbed her eyes. It was too early for this.

“Danny, you’ve already done your hair.”

“You can’t prove that!”

“I can see it, it’s glistening in the sunlight.”

Daniel brought down a tuff of his hair. She was right, it was already perfect.

“Oh. Well, whatever! It doesn’t change the fact that I’m not afraid of the Rangers!”

Suru raised her voice.

“You are.”

Daniel raised his.

“I am not!”

“You are.”

“Wrong!”

“You are!”

“On the contrary!”

“STOP SHOUTING AND LOOK AT THE ROAD!!”

Soul Burst fired a shot out the window, breaking the glass. Back in the air, A-K and Tabloider were still brawling. The plasma from A-K’s arm cannon and the words from Tabloider’s Firearm danced in the orange sky, both narrowly avoiding the other’s attacks.

“Y’know, you’re pretty good for an A.I.!”

A-K shot at him.

“... No complements, got it!”

Tabloider fired a sentence, which A-K avoided. As he dodged, however, a neon pink shot caught his attention from the corner of his camera. He stopped and looked down. The window of the car was broken... were they-

“Gotcha!”

A-K reeled back, looking at the plate on his arm.

“ｉｔ ｂｕｒｎｅｄ．“

Suddenly, A-K’s arm burst into flames. Before he could counterattack, however, Tabloider had already fired another shot.

But he hadn’t been aiming at him.

A-K zoomed into the street... before the car were a few words.

“ｉｔ ｃｒｕｍｂｌｅｄ．“

Cracks began to form on the road in front of the car, and in an instant the road had completely fallen through. Tabloider smirked under his helmet.

“Look at that! Looks like you’re...”

The car hit one of Green Star’s enlarged bullets, causing it to bounce into the air. It went higher up due to a bullet from Nova Noir, and for a moment, the 23GT flew.

“... Do you at least like how I did my hair?”

Suru held onto her glasses.

“Looks great, Danny. Wish you’d do mine.”

She turned around.

“Now, Maki!”

Maki leaned out the broken window and fired a large blast from Soul Burst, causing the car to push forward and make it into the road again. Tabloider looked on, his jaw dropped.

“... How the hell did they- AGH”

He looked down. A flaming, robotic arm cut at the wires had been shot into his armor. He quickly took it out and looked at a now armless A-K.

“It’d be in your best interest not to underestimate the Twenty-Third Generational Team of TRIGGER Agents, Tabloider. They’ve made amazing progress in the few months they’ve been active, and after today...”

A-K took out his arm cannon.

“... they’re only going to get stronger.”

Tabloider looked at A-K. He looked at the car heading into the city. He looked back at A-K... and laughed.

“Y’know, you’re one crazy robot. You’re like a... a...”

He tapped his helmet, thinking.

“... a maniandroid!”

A-K failed to process... whatever that was.

“Excuse me?”

Tabloider began making large movements with his arms, trying to explain the joke.

“Get it? I combined maniac and android! You get it, right?”

A-K said nothing.

“... You’re right, it’s stupid. I’ll come up with something better later. Anyway, I liked your speech. You’re right- I shouldn’t underestimate those Agents.”

He brought out his Firearm again.

“In fact, I should just take ‘em head on! Right now! I mean, they’re capable, right? What am I doing fighting their metal carpool driver?”

Tabloider fired a shot at his own skateboard.

“Now, if you’ll excuse me... I’m going to go avenge my fellow agent.”

A-K realized what was happening and quickly fired a few shots at the Ranger... but he became faster. A large, orange flame erupted from the back of his skateboard, sending him flying past A-K. A-K followed quickly, and soon he was flying around buildings as fast as he could, trying to find Tabloider. He made it back to the car... only a few more turns to TRIGGER HQ. He couldn’t find the agent...

... but he saw his skateboard. It was planted on the roof of the car again.

“ｉｔ ｂｅｃａｍｅ ｆａｓｔｅｒ．“

Well, that explained the burst in speed earlier, but he still couldn’t find Tabloider. If he was hiding, he could do more than take out the 23GT... he could steal information... assassinate other Agents... his Firearm would let him...

... wait.

A-K adjusted the lens on his camera to track heat signatures... there he was! On the roof of the car, making his way to the front window... his armor had writing, much cooler than the rest of his body...

“ｉｔ ｂｅｃａｍｅ ｉｎｖｉｓｉｂｌｅ．“

Of course! A-K swooped down, trying to make it before anything awful happened...!

The car was silent. A nice song with a ukulele that Suru could never remember the name of was playing on the radio. Daniel felt bad. Maki wiped dust off of herself.

A blue streak passed right over the car, the sound of it flying going into the distance just as quickly as it had arrived. Maki looked up.

“Is that A-K?”

Suru shrugged.

“Probably.”

Maki looked out the front window.

“Is he okay?”

Suru shrugged.

“I dunno.”

Back in the air, Tabloider clung to A-K, looking back down at the skateboard.

“What the hell are you-“

“We did not kill Stephanie Rimer.”

Tabloider stopped struggling for a moment. A-K put the both of them down on the roof of a building.

“We did not kill your fellow Ranger. The Agents in that vehicle did not even attack her. She was flung a far distance away from where we were, but her armor would’ve made it so she’d live with only minor injuries.”

Tabloider stood up.

“Why should I believe you?”

A-K put away his arm cannon.

“Because we can make a deal. Comply, and I’ll let you go. With your skateboard, of course.”

He put his arm behind his back. Tabloider stood there for a moment.

“... Go on.”

A-K’s chest plate opened up to show a virtual presentation he made on the fly to describe his deal.

“All I ask for is some information. We believe that the Ranger Corps, along with other hirable mercenaries, have been given tasks by an anonymous party to, among other things, obstruct TRIGGER. I ask that you give us some information on this... if it’s true, of course.”

His chest plate closed. Tabloider chuckled.

“Yeah, you hit the nail right on the head. We were hired to try and kill you guys... no idea who actually hired, though. They paid well, apparently, but I don’t know the specifics of that.”

Tabloider walked to the edge of the roof they were standing on.

“You guys probably realize that something big is gonna happen soon... but I think it’s gonna be a lot bigger than anything you could imagine. But, hey, what do I know? I’m just a kid!”

He took a step off the roof, waving.

“Later, circuits.”

A-K looked over the roof. He was gone. Not even his heat signature was visible. His board was gone, too. He had kept his word.

...

A-K thought for a moment. Something bigger than he could imagine, huh...?

He looked up. The sky was blue now.

“Congratulations, Agents!”

Captain had streamers on the walls and balloons everywhere for when the 23GT made it into HQ. They all blinked. Well, Suru’s eyes were already closed.

“Did we do something?”

Captain smiled.

“Yes! Your hard work these past few months has proven your worth as Agents, and starting today, you will officially be recognized as members of TRIGGER! Congratulations!”

Maki’s hands twitched.

“D- Does that mean we don’t have to train anymore?”

Captain laughed.

“Oh, you’ll be training even harder now! We’ll be taking you out of school and giving you a full education here... along with the best battle training TRIGGER can offer!”

Daniel smiled, his perfect teeth shining.

“We’re being taken out of school? Oh, trés bien, Captain~!”

He did a twirl. Captain laughed.

“That’s right! A-K will be your teacher!”

“Don’t worry, I’m properly trained.”

The 23GT jumped. When did A-K get behind them? Not that it mattered. They felt a sort of... smile coming off of him.

“We’ll have all the paperwork figured out in a week or so, don’t worry. Congratulations, everyone! Oh, and Captain bought a cake for you. It’s in the fridge.

Suru shuffled over to the fridge. A-K walked with Captain into his office to tell him about what he learned from Tabloider. Maki fiddled with her thumbs again.

“I’m... gonna go to the bathroom.”

She walked off, leaving Daniel and Suru to themselves.

“Pretty cool that we’re actual Agents now, huh?”

Suru walked back to Daniel, holding three plates, each with a slice of cake.

Daniel laughed.

“Yes... Yes, it’s very cool.”

They sat for a moment, looking out the big glass entrance to HQ. It was a beautiful day.

“I’m sorry I prodded, Daniel.”

He looked at Suru.

“I shouldn’t have yelled, either. I know it’s none of my business. I’m sorry.”

Daniel was taken aback.

“Oh... no, it’s okay. I understand you were just trying to help. I just...”

His voice trailed off. That was a first.

They sat there for a moment, in silence.

“... Did you mean what you said?”

Suru turned to look at Daniel, who had a soft smile on his face.

“Huh?”

He put his hand behind his head.

“Well, in the car you said you wish I’d do your hair... did you mean it?”

Suru opened her eyes.

“Oh. Yeah, I’ve always wanted a braid, but I don’t know anyone who can and I don’t feel like paying for a haircut.”

Daniel’s face erupted into a smile, his sparkles as bright as they usually were.

“Oh, I’d love to braid your hair! A long braid down the middle would look magnificent on you! May I!?”

Suru chuckled.

“Knock yourself out.”

Daniel let out a squeal of joy and began braiding Suru’s long hair. She could feel the joy emitting off of him... it was nice. She took a bite of- oh.

“Is something wrong, Suru?”

She turned to look at him.

“This cake is... really good.”

“Heya, Captain! Yeah, I just got your message, I’ll be there as soon as I can... Huh? No, sorry, I don’t know where she is right now. Don’t worry, Captain! You know her! She’ll be just fine. Oh, I can’t wait to meet the new guys!! I got them some gifts... I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m just so excited!! Oh- I gotta go. Tell A-K I said hi! See ya!”

TO BE CONTINUED


	11. Episode 10 - Culmination

-11:32 AM, April 8th, 2111-

A number of important changes had been made regarding a number of important things.

Firstly, education. After three months of part-time in-the-field work by the 23GT, Captain’s evaluations were finally complete, bringing Maki Mai-Dearest, Daniel Nightbright and Surururu Rurururu into the fray as official Agents of TRIGGER. This meant that their education would now be handled by the organization, allowing the group freedom from public (or, in Daniel’s case, private) school.

Secondly, investigation. In regards to the attacks on TRIGGER (and the city as a whole), essentially no progress had been made identifying the mastermind behind them or any underlying goal. Both TRIGGER and the NPD were, to put it simply, stumped.

Thirdly, celebration. The 4th of April marked Maki’s 16th birthday. Hooray!

Today was a culmination of these events; it was the last day before the 23GT’s real integration into TRIGGER started; it was the day the investigation would need to try a new angle; it was another day Maki would accidentally say she was 15 if they asked for her age.

Today was a culmination.

“Why the hell is this so hard!?”

Marco chugged down some coffee that more-than-likely had some kind of brandy mixed in.

“I mean, they’re just some kinda crime syndicate, right!? All we need to do is beat ‘em the hell up!”

Eustace chugged down some water that more-than-likely had some headache medication mixed in.

“It’s too early to be getting loud, Marco...”

Marco quietly brought out his Firearm and poked Eustace in the face with it. A fight between the brothers ensued, as per the norm. Captain took a deep breath.

“I fear we might have to start taking drastic measures.”

The two brothers stopped for a moment to look at Captain.

“... Yo, Shitglock... you don’t mean...”

A shadow went down across Captain’s face. He nodded. Without so much as a word from him, the room went from frustrated to full-on enraged.

“NO! I AIN’T SITTIN’ THROUGH THIS!! I REFUSE TO GO THROUGH THIS SHIT AGAIN!!”

As Marco began destroying the walls and furniture in anger, Eustace simply slinked back into the corner. He knew what this meant. He yipped out in fear as Captain took out his phone.

“A-K, evaluate the criminals we’ve incarcerated that have to deal with the recent assaults on TRIGGER. We have to...”

A bead of sweat dripped down his forehead.

“... conduct an interrogation.”

Screams of agony ensued.

“Oh, isn’t this simply tear-jerking!?”

The 23GT had, for the first time, been walking to TRIGGER HQ together. For some reason, A-K had to ask them to walk halfway themselves- apparently something had come up. It wasn’t really an issue; they didn’t have to get up early today for anything, and the weather was nice.

And, of course, Daniel was giving a speech. For Suru, at least, his poetry was a good source of white noise.

“Here we are, officially saying au revoir to our lives as students and beginning our brand-new lives as fully-fledged Agents of TRIGGER! Oh, it’s exhilarating, isn’t it!?”

Daniel put his face up to Maki’s, who was in the midst of quivering.

“Uh- Uh, y- yup-“

“Oh, but it’s just tragic!”

Not that Daniel really needed an answer.

“I remember the tears I shed giving my friends a final farewell! The sadness was palpable, but surely it’s for the betterment of mankind! Oh, parting is such sweet sorrow~!”

Maki rubbed her arm.

“Well... I- I guess so. I have a few friends, b- but I live near them, so it’s not that bad...”

Suru readjusted her glasses.

“I don’t talk to people at my school. I have enough conversations with my siblings.”

She looked at Daniel, who was sparkling a bit more than usual.

“Y’know, you really don’t seem too shaken up about that sorrowful parting, Danny.”

Daniel began walking backwards as they approached the front entrance of TRIGGER HQ.

“I’m extremely melancholy, I’ll have you know. Just yesterday I watched a rose wither in my own twoABAHAJN”

Daniel had tripped over a rock and fell back-first into the building. Upon twirling up, Daniel came face-to-face with what Suru and Maki had already been silently facing.

Darkness. 

Complete, engulfing darkness. The only light was the faint pink glow of Soul Burst, which could at any moment fire a shot born of fear, and Daniel’s natural sparkles.

“Well, this is... interesting! Any lack of design is still design within itself, I suppose. Although, I’ll be honest, I didn’t take Captain for a minimalist...”

Suru had no idea what Daniel was talking about, but she knew this probably wasn’t an art statement. Was this...!?

“Danny, get down!”

Suru lunged herself forward, firing a shot from Green Star into the murky blackness as she crouched and forced Daniel into the ground for a second time. It was only for a moment, but from the white glow of Daniel’s sparkles... there was a face.

“Maki! Get Soul Burst ready to fire and approach slowly!”

Taken completely by shock, Maki flailed and stuttered for a bit trying to get her own Firearm out before finally holding Soul Burst in front of her as she slowly shuffled forward.

“R- Right! Right...”

Maki was terrified. What if this was someone they couldn’t handle? What if no one showed up in time? What if whoever this was was the one...

...

“M- Mr. Eustace?”

Suru opened her eyes. She could see from Soul Burst’s glow that it was, in fact, Eustace, albeit with a sticky bullet from Green Star covering his face.

“Oh.”

Suru stood up again, putting away Green Star and moving to rip away the bullet from Eustace’s face, which she did. Once she could properly see his face, she crouched down to meet him.

“Hey. Why’re the lights off?”

Daniel got up from the ground and began complaining to Maki about the dust that was on his shirt now. Eustace blinked.

“Ah. Yes. The lights.”

It was obvious he needed a second to recover from what just happened.

“Well... Well, we’re sorry. So sorry. Very sorry.”

Suru sighed.

“Whatever. Where’s Captain?”

Eustace picked himself up, seemingly snapping out of his shock.

“Ah, yes, well, he’s in another room. By the way, please don’t say... Belgium.”

He whispered the word they weren’t supposed to say.

“What’s wrong with Belgium?”

Daniel did not.

“BELGIUM!?”

That other guy absolutely did not.

Wait, what?

Suddenly, a barrage of shots came from above, aimed directly at the 23GT. Eustace quickly brought out Defender, creating a large barrier and putting it above the group.

“IT’S A FALSE BELGIUM, MARCO!! STOP!!”

Suru turned to Daniel.

“Where did you even come from? Why were you listening to my conversation?”

Daniel tugged on his tie.

“Hmph. I can be places if I want to! And I can listen to what I want to as well!”

Suru sighed, again. She turned to Maki, who was standing by herself nearby. She seemed alarmed.

“You doin’ okay, Maki?”

Maki was looking frantically in every direction.

“I- I don’t know what’s going on...”

Suru looked at her.

“Huh. Y’know, come to think of it, neither do I.”

She looked up. The barrage of shots from Marco had ended, and the brothers had somehow begun bickering again. Suru began walking up to them.

“Hey, what’s-“

And was promptly interrupted by even more things happening. Great.

The doors to HQ flung open, revealing A-K wheeling in a large, black box. It looked to be about the size of a person.

Suru looked around. Everyone was quiet. A-K continued walking forward, and for a while, nothing happened. Eventually, he returned from the darkness without the box.

“Okay, we can turn the lights on now.”

The lights instantly came back on, blinding everyone instantly with how sudden they were... everyone except Suru, of course. A-K walked in front of the group.

“Apologies, Maki, Daniel, Suru. I assume you’ve been informed of the situation by the Chiefs of Police?”

The 23GT gathered once again. Suru was tired of this.

“No, not at all. No idea what’s going on.”

If A-K could blink, he would’ve right then.

“Oh. Very well, then.”

A-K’s chest plate opened up, revealing a fun video presentation he made in less than a second on the subject.

“You see, earlier today, the Captain requested - on the grounds that no progress would be made on the investigation otherwise - that there be an interrogation on one of the criminals involved in the incident. That was the reason I had to leave suddenly- I had to actually drive the approved criminal here.”

Suru nodded.

“Okay, that explains why you had to leave... and the box, I guess. But why were the lights off?”

Daniel, in proper Daniel fashion, appeared out of nowhere and began talking.

“Oh, I know this one! It’s because of Firearm Psychology, non? The Coverstone Complex, non?”

A-K gave Daniel a thumbs-up.

“Correct. Maki, Suru, you-“

They both looked clueless.

“- I see.”

Another presentation popped up. Oh, how he loved his presentations.

“Because Firearms are created via the psyches of individuals, those who can summon them tend to be...”

He studied the 23GT for a moment.

“... deviant in their behavior. This correlation is known as the Coverstone Complex, named after renowned Firearm Psychologist Narciso Coverstone. As such, it is important when interrogating that simple fear tactics be used in order to convey a sense of danger to the criminal... of course, we cannot actually harm them, and they don’t usually work. Even so, it’s important we convey to them the idea that we are more dangerous than they are.”

Maki blinked.

“I- I don’t really get how that works, so I’ll just t- take that as an explanation for the lights... and the attacks... a- and... Belgium...”

A-K closed his chest plates.

“Belgium?”

Marco brought out his Firearm.

“BELGIUM!?”

Suru groaned.

A-K, now finished with the explanation, began walking to a room off to the side.

“You should come with me. Seeing how these are conducted will undoubtedly prove useful in the future.”

The three obliged, walking into the side room after A-K.

It was actually up multiple flights of stairs rather than being off to the side, but that’s unimportant.

Once inside, they saw that they were facing a one-way mirror, with Captain and Verdes on the other side. The both of them looked intense.

Well, more intense than normal.

Suru opened her eyes a bit.

“Who’d you pick for this thing, anyway?”

A-K pressed a button, unlocking the hatch on the large box.

“It’s actually one of the first criminals you all managed to apprehend.”

Maki gulped.

“W- Wait... is this...?”

A large, familiar fluffy coat burst out of the box. Daniel scowled.

“NO...”

Within the coat was a woman wearing aviators, and flying around her were six cackling bullets.

“Th’ hell is this joint? Th’ hell are you?”

A-K nodded.

“The criminal selected for this interrogation is none other than the head of the first gang you ever faced... Roxanne Rosegold.”

Daniel lunged.

“YOU BASTARD!! YOU CALLED ME MOLD-“

He smacked his body up against the window. His sparkles were a burning white, matching his rage. Suru yawned.

“Why is she still doing that fake accent?”

A-K began recording.

“Unknown, but she was the most compliant out of every criminal we could’ve used.”

Roxanne sat down on the chair in front of her, putting her legs up on the table as she put some gum in her mouth. Her most loyal bullet-lackey, Joey, flew up to Captain.

“What th’ hell you buncha jokers want with the boss, huh!?”

Verdes growled.

“She’s not the boss of anything. Right now, she’s the lowest of the low.”

Joey put his face up to Verdes’.

“WHACHU SAY!?”

The both of them continued to growl and bicker, until-

“Yo, Joey. Quit it. We ain’t here ‘t fight.”

Joey stopped and slowly backed away from Verdes, growling all the while.

A few moments of silence passed before Captain cleared his throat and began the questioning.

“Ms. Rosegold. How are you today?”

Roxanne blew and popped a bubble from her gum.

“Yeah, I’m doin’ just dandy. Though I gots a question for ya.”

Verdes stood up.

“You’re not in the position to-“

Captain motioned for him to stop.

“Go ahead.”

Roxanne took off her shades and looked Captain in the eyes.

“Are we... still in th’ Chamber?”

Captain maintained eye contact with her.

“No, we’re not.”

Roxanne...

...

...

...

... exhaled violently. She was relieved.

“Oh, thank GOD.”

Maki whispered to Daniel.

“Do you know what the Chamber is?”

Through grit teeth, Daniel spoke.

“The Chamber is an underground maximum security penitentiary for criminals apprehended by TRIGGER and other high-profile individuals caught by the NPD. It’s also where tHAT HARLOT SHOULD GO BACK TO!!”

If he could’ve, he would’ve shot her with Nova Noir right then. Of course, Roxanne didn’t even know he was there, so it made no difference to her.

“That place is AWFUL. I haven’t had any good food in MONTHS. Do you guys have any burgers? I could go for, like, ten burgers.”

Her Jersey accent had mysteriously vanished. Captain was... confused.

“Uh... yes, we can get you a hamburger.”

Roxanne smiled.

“Yeah, yeah! Three or four. Fries, too. And a soda! Man, this is great.”

The both of them were smiling now. Verdes was... considerably less happy.

“Captainnnnnnnnn... you’re being too much of a pushover.”

He pointed at Roxanne.

“You’ll only get your burgers once you start talking.”

Roxanne nodded.

“Yeah, alright, I’ll-“

She stopped, frowned, and put on her accent again.

“Nah, nah. Don’chu know how deals work, bud? Payment up front.”

Verdes slammed the table.

“YOU CAN’T-“

Joey shot up to him again.

“YOU HEARD TH’ BOSS, CHUMP! PAYMENT UP FRONT!”

Verdes went flailing into a corner, scratching himself and snarling in proper Verdes fashion. Captain motioned to A-K from behind the window.

“Uh... A-K, could you go and pick up Ms. Rosegold’s order?”

A-K nodded and prepared to leave. Suru looked around. She saw Daniel, violently angry, she saw Maki, already stressed and overwhelmed... she saw her team on edge. She turned to A-K.

“Hey, A-K. You think you could drop us off at the mall?”

Maki and Daniel perked up. A-K turned around.

“The mall? Why?”

Suru rubbed her eyes.

“Well, it’s our last day before we’re official TRIGGER Agents, right? I thought it’d be cool if we just got to... relax. You know, for morale.”

It was silent for a moment. Maki was terrified. Daniel loved the tension. Suru was still tired. A-K... got energized!

“Great idea! Sure. Interrogation is important, but I’m sure you’ll have more chances to study. Get your things together and meet me in the car.”

With that, A-K left. Daniel swooned.

“Suru~! Oh, how wonderful! What a splendid idea! Come to think of it, we’ve never spent time together outside of work, have we? Oh, I love it!”

Daniel spun around. This managed to take his mind off of Roxanne completely. Maki was a lot quieter. Suru walked up to her.

“You doin’ okay?”

Maki jumped.

“UH- Y- Yeah, yeah! I’m okay...”

Suru turned around and walked out.

“Let’s go.”

Daniel and Maki followed.

“Hey, this place looks familiar.”

Suru squinted at the large, shiny building. Daniel smiled.

“Oh, it should! This is the mall we had our first mission in!”

He flipped his hair back.

“It does bring back memories, does it not? This mall is a shining beacon of our achievements!”

He lunged inside.

“Now then, to leisure!”

As Daniel frolicked, Suru paused for a moment. Maki looked scared.

“You don’t have to come with us, y’know.”

Maki, lost in thought, only mustered up a few words.

“N- No, I will. I’m okay.”

Suru decided she wouldn’t pry further. She simply put her hands into her pockets and walked inside, with Maki following a bit behind.

“Now, then! Where should we start~?”

Daniel was looking around in every direction at once. Clothes, books, video games...!

“Ooh, look!”

He ran into a small shop on the first floor.

“Lamps! Rows and rows of beautiful lamps!”

He had the most gigantic smile on his face, and was brighter than any of the lamps there. Suru went with it.

“Yeah, I’ll buy a lamp.”

Suru followed Daniel into the store, but Maki sat down on a nearby bench. She was grasping the side of her leg nervously. 

The same way she held down Soul Burst.

Daniel put his hand up to his chin.

“Is Maki not a fan of interior lighting?”

Suru looked through the large selection of lamps.

“I think she might be going through something. Best not to pry.”

Daniel thought for a moment.

Hmm.

Hmmmmmmmmm.

HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM-

He got it!

“Oh, Maki!”

The two had finished shopping. Suru got a string of Christmas lights that were now in her hair, while Daniel’s purchase was much more... extravagant.

“I got you a gift!”

Maki looked up to Daniel.

“Oh! Oh, uh... thank you! What i- is-“

“It’s a bird!”

Daniel brought out his purchase. In his hands was a small lamp in the shape of a cockatiel.

“It’s just like Edward, right? Now he can lighten up your day both figuratively and literally!”

He tugged on the string of the bird-lamp. It worked, and was very cute.

“Do you like it?”

Suru was worried. For some reason, she had a creeping feeling that this would make things worse. There was only a second of silence, but the fear she felt within it was real. But Maki...

... Maki was enchanted.

She took the lamp from Daniel’s hands, turning it off and on again a few times. She looked up at the two of them with happiness in her eyes.

“... I love it...”

She smiled.

“... Thank you!”

Daniel hugged her tight.

“Of course!”

As they both laughed, Suru sighed in relief. Today would be nice.

The next hour or so was spent going to various shops, buying all manner of things; Daniel got some fancy shampoo. Suru got a massaging head pillow. Maki mostly stuck with her new lamp. After making it through Suru’s pocket change and making a minor dent within a minor dent of Daniel’s fabulous wealth, the 23GT decided to end their trip with some food. 

“Whaddya mean you’ve never had pizza?”

“It’s simply unappealing!”

Daniel and Suru were currently in an argument about how a teenager, living in this country, in this day and age, could never have once had pizza.

“Okay, for you, delivery pizza, maybe. But not even the fancy thin-slice stuff they have in Italy or whatever?”

The two were butting heads, with Daniel becoming more offended by every word.

“Excuse you! There is much more to Italian cuisine than tomato paste on toasted bread!”

Suru sighed.

“Shut up and eat your-“

Maki was hiding behind a pillar, shaking in fear. Suru looked to the side... on a nearby bench was a kid, around their age, on his phone. He was wearing a hoodie with some kind of graffiti design on it, jeans, a pair of headphones resting on his neck and was playing something on his phone.

...

Suru had no idea who he was. Daniel, however, knew exactly what this was about.

“Maki! Is that him!? The man I’ve heard so much about!? Is-“

Maki grabbed Daniel and shushed him. Daniel smiled smugly, whispering.

“Is that That Devilishly Handsome Jeremy Fichter?”

Maki looked at him in shock.

“Wh- how do you know his name!?”

Suru crouched down.

“So that’s what he looks like.”

Maki looked over at Suru.

“How do you know about him too!?”

They both looked at Maki, speaking in unison.

“Captain told us!”

“Captain told us.”

Shame struck Maki’s heart.

“I told him not to tell anyone...!”

While Maki wallowed, Suru went up to her and patted her on the shoulder.

“Welp, now’s your chance. Go do it.”

Maki looked up at her.

“... H- Huh...?”

Daniel grinned.

“Suru is right! After today, you’ll no longer be attending the same school as Jeremy. Go, Maki! Ignite the fire that is young love!”

Maki blinked.

“H- Huh...?”

Suru pointed at Jeremy.

“Just ask him out on a date. Like, uh... a movie. People like movies, don’t they?”

Maki had no idea what was going on, but... she realized what she was being cornered into. Slowly, she stood up, choking on her own fear. Suru muffled Daniel’s shouts of encouragement as Maki nervously walked over to the bench. After what felt like hours for her, Maki had arrived.

There he was.

Jeremy Fichter.

Jeremy Fichter.

Jeremy...

“Maki?”

Maki contained Soul Burst with every fiber in her body.

“HI HELLO-“

She looked behind her. Daniel and Suru were both giving her a thumbs-up. Maki gulped.

“... H... Hi, Jeremy. C- Can I... sit here?”

Jeremy moved over a bit.

“Sure, go ahead. Y’know, I actually wanted to talk to you.”

Mali’s face turned a bright red.

“YOU DID!?- Uh- Y- You did...?”

Jeremy put away his phone.

“Yeah. I heard you were, like, dropping out, or something? You hadn’t been at school for the last few days, so I kinda assumed it was true. What’s up with that?”

Maki shivered, and said nothing. Jeremy frowned.

“Oh, I mean, if it’s personal, you don’t have to-“

“No, no! It’s... it’s n- not like that.”

Maki looked away and fiddled with her thumbs.

“It’s... well, I’m kind of going i- into... uh... military training...”

Jeremy grinned. Oh god, his teeth were perfect.

“Hey, that’s rad! I never took you for a soldier! Where are you training? NPD? National Guard?... Wait, are you-“

“DO YOU WANT TO GO SEE A MOVIE LATER?”

Maki shot up. Her face was on fire. Soul Burst was ready to carpet bomb the entire mall. Jeremy remained handsome.

“Yeah, okay. How about Friday next week?”

Maki’s brain short-circuited.

“Huh?”

Jeremy rubbed the back of his head.

“I know it’s a bit far away, but I have stuff I have to take care of, y’know? If it doesn’t work for you, we can-“

“NONONONO IT- IT WORKS.”

“Oh, okay, then.”

Jeremy took out a sticky pad and wrote down some numbers, handing it to Maki as he did.

“Here’s my number. Call me later and we can figure out the details, yeah?”

Maki felt like she was going to pass out. She nodded.

“Cool. Hey, I gotta go, but I’ll see you around, yeah?”

More nodding.

“Nice. See ya!”

Jeremy walked away. For a few moments, nothing felt real.

Then Maki slumped to the floor, prompting Daniel to jump over to her.

“MAKI!! YOU’VE DONE IT!!”

He was performing incredibly complicated ballet moves.

“OH, I’M SO PROUD!!”

Maki could only muster up gibberish. Suru hoisted her up.

“Good job. Let’s go celebrate with pizza.”

And, with that, Maki managed to secure her first ever date with Jeremy Fichter.

Also, Daniel tried pizza for the first time in his life. He puked glitter.

“OHHHHHH YEEEEAAAAAAAAH”

Speaking of greasy food, Roxanne Rosegold was currently scarfing down her first burger in three months. She was crying, but her tears were that of joy.

“This is... so good...!”

A-K had gotten her three burgers, two large sides of fries and a soda, as requested. He had returned to recording the interrogation from the other room, although this time he was accompanied by the DonLeones.

“What the hell? We givin’ criminals burgers now?”

Marco drank more of his coffee-brandy mix. Eustace rubbed his forehead.

“It was so that she would talk-“

“OH, SO WE GIVE INTO CRIMINAL DEMANDS NOW!?”

“THEY’RE BURGERS, MARCO!!”

The two began fighting. Not much to do about that. On the other side, Captain couldn’t help but smile seeing someone in so much joy. Verdes was wholly unamused.

“Start talking, Rosegold... what’s with the attacks on TRIGGER?”

Roxanne started on her second burger.

“Th’ what now?”

Verdes, at that moment, felt rage almost as close to when he saw plants become obstructed. Captain realized this and snapped back into serious mode.

“The crime you were incarcerated for has been proven to be the result of a mass hiring of mercenaries. What do you-“

Roxanne stuffed some fries into her face.

“Y’ mean Python?”

Verdes stopped.

The DonLeones stopped.

Captain stopped... then spoke.

“... Python?”

Roxanne gulped down some soda.

“Yeah, few months back, sum broker came outta nowhere with a huge list of jobs for good pay. Me ‘n my gang were tasked with gatherin’ materials... or somethin’ like that. iunno. Was a while ago.”

As if what she just said wasn’t a complete bombshell, Roxanne continued to eat. The rest of the professionals here, however, began frantically investigating... all of that. Captain brought out a notebook.

“I... ‘Python?’ Who is... ‘Python?’”

Roxanne swallowed her food before talking. She knew her manners.

“Nah, see, that’s the weird part, y’know? They really came outta nowhere. Even amongst my kinda folk, stuff was pretty weird.”

The door to the other room opened, with Maki, Daniel and Suru arriving once again... now with more cool stuff purchased, of course. Daniel did a pirouette.

“Hello~! What did we- oh.”

He immediately took in the atmosphere. It struck him that something must’ve happened when even the DonLeones were quiet. Again, Roxanne noticed none of this.

“Oh, but y’know what th’ weirdest part was? Huge time limit. No idea why, but they were super specific ‘bout gettin’ stuff done before a certain date.”

Everyone’s heart sank. Captain clenched his fist.

“Ms. Rosegold... what was that date?”

“Uh... what’s today again?”

“April 8th, 2111.”

“Oh, today, then.”

As if fate itself had been listening, a booming explosion was heard off in the distance, sending something hurtling towards TRIGGER HQ. A flash of blinding light engulfed the room, and a force so powerful that it shattered the window and tore down the wall separating the two rooms hit the building in an instant.

Maki lifted herself up from the rubble. A bright light made her eyes squint... in front of her was a massive hole torn through the side of HQ, with a massive, pitch-black ship hovering in the air in the distance. From it, a gigantic cannon had been deployed, undoubtedly the weapon that caused this destruction.

But that was not what caused her terror.

What caused her terror was when she realized everyone else had their Firearms targeted on a single figure, who stood on the edge of the building with seemingly no effort.

“Three newcomers... two veterans... two officers... one so-called ‘gangster...’ and the Captain himself. Delightful!”

His eyes were a soft lavender. His voice was kind, and excited.

“Although... there is another presence close by. Are you expecting company? Please, we’d be delighted if you are! The more the merrier, as they say.”

He chuckled softly. An opening appeared on his forehead, showing a grotesque, large eyeball underneath that frantically moved around its pupil, focusing on everything it could.

“Oh, and such lovely weapons...! With such power concentrated in one room, I’d usually fear for my life...

... but there’s someone here who’s afraid, isn’t there...?”

Maki gasped for air, but it was too late. The man’s horrible eye had focused in on her. This was unlike regular fear, fear that could be overcome with simple determination and inner strength.

This was a culmination of the fears Maki had faced ever since joining TRIGGER.

This was the fear for her life.

TO BE CONTINUED


	12. Episode 11 - A Severed Connection

-01:12 PM, April 8th, 2111-

“TRIGGER will not be intimidated by mere terrorists. Surrender yourself now, or we will be forced to apprehend you with our full power.”

The situation at hand seemed like one straight out of some dark fantasy. A massive flying ship, black as the night, blocked out the sun, and in its place was a cannon that managed to tear into TRIGGER HQ like the walls had been made out of glass. Its wave of destruction had hit the surrounding buildings as well, a massive ring of terror and tragedy encompassing the people of the city.

And in its center was a man.

The man was angelic in his demeanor; the way he stood was if he could fly. The way he spoke was as if he knew how to make even the largest of problems fade away into the wind. His tall, lean, olive-toned body covered in a flowing, dark-purple garb with black patterns that wrapped around his body like snakes. His long, shimmering silver hair tied around the back of his head as to not cover his gentle face or beautiful smile... and his eye.

The eye that had opened up in the middle of his forehead, the eye that was much too large for any normal human, the eye that squirmed within his skin like an animal searching for a way out of its cage, the eye whose pupil was a beautiful sea green within an iris of horribly bloodshot white.

He was an angel. An awful, horrifying angel that comes from the heavens only to further destruction, death, famine, sadness, torture, all the while chuckling softly to himself.

And that was all he did. Captain’s words had seemingly amused him.

“Terrorists? Such a barbaric term. Out of everyone here, the one I had least suspected to jump to such conclusions was you, Captain Ammo Shotglock... after all, you know exactly what this is about, don’t you?”

Suru scoffed. Her eyes were wide open.

“Cap, who the hell is this guy? Is he the reason we’ve been so busy?”

The man squinted as he laughed. He spoke before anyone else got the chance to.

“Oh, I’m no ringleader... I’m simply an apostle, serving under my own Captain first and foremost. Allow me to introduce myself.”

He closed his eyes and took a bow. The eye on his forehead seemed to dilate as light filled the room, taking the forms of various Firearms.

“My name is Vihaan. I am the first commander of space pirate band Python, serving directly under the Captain. I am no less than honored to finally meet you, Agents of TRIGGER.”

His face cracked a devious smile. A blinding light engulfed the room.

Bang.

Without time for anyone to process what had happened, the room they were standing in had been completely demolished, sending everyone flying out in different directions.

Luckily, it wasn’t anyone here’s first time falling out of a building.

Eustace brought out Defender and fired at the ground below. The created shield managed to break his fall, leaving him only with minor injuries. Eustace himself was used as a cushion to break Marco’s fall, leaving the brothers with a broken finger each.

Verdes used The Garden to latch onto a still intact piece of TRIGGER HQ and lower himself onto the ground... not before also using it to tie up Roxanne to make sure she didn’t get any ideas about escaping.

Captain slammed into the ground, his face morphed into a scowl. Python would pay hundredfold for what they did.

Suru brought out Green Star and shot out a large, bouncy bullet into the ground below, allowing her to land safely. Maki and Daniel were grabbed in midair by the fast-as-lightning A-K and lowered safely to the ground. Suru turned back to them.

“Maki. Danny. You guys alright?”

Daniel sprung up from A-K’s hold, striking a pose as he landed. However, he was not sparkling like normal, right now, his shine was one of anger and determination.

“These people... they cause all this destruction, and have the audacity to be angered by the term ‘terrorist?’ Méprisable! I’ll take them all head-on with style so immaculate they’ll have no choice but to yield on the spot!”

Daniel was clenching his fist, ready to fight. Suru walked up to him and patted him on the back.

“I like the energy, Danny, but save it for the fighting.”

Suru had a sneaking suspicion that Daniel was only this fired up because the attacks got his suit dirty, but she wasn’t about to complain. She turned to A-K.

“A-K, what’s the damage looking like?”

A-K quickly scanned the area.

“Python’s attack was focused on TRIGGER HQ, so only the immediate center of the city suffered any damage. Approximately forty-three people have been injured, sixteen of which are in need of immediate medical care. It is of the utmost importance that we...”

Maki looked around the area. It was something straight out of a disaster movie. An entire side of TRIGGER HQ had been torn off, the surrounding buildings were badly damaged with broken windows and blazing fires, and the sky... the sky was dark. Not just from the smoke, but from the airship. That alien airship that blocked out the sun. That alien airship that was no-doubt preparing to fire again. That alien airship whose front looked like a face staring down at her, a pitch-black face with glowing eyes that would soon enough open its cursed maw and fire down another rain of shots... she couldn’t do this. She didn’t know how Suru could be so calm. She didn’t know how Daniel could be so determined. She didn’t know why-

“Yoo-hoo! Maki! Is anyone home?”

Maki snapped out of it. Daniel was right in front of her face, trying to get her attention with silly hand gestures. Suru was looking at her from a distance.

“Maki, don’t worry about it. It’ll be fine. We just have to act.”

Maki couldn’t.

“I... o- okay-“

“No.”

A booming voice came from the front. It was Captain, staring down the airship from the ground.

“You will not be fighting.”

Suru’s eyes opened.

“What? Cap, we-“

“You will not be fighting, Suru.”

Suru scowled. Captain’s aura was different, even from the other times he was serious. He seemed more fueled by anger than anything else, but behind that... behind that was something more tragic. More afraid. More guilty.

“You will not be fighting, Suru. The 23GT will not be partaking in this fight.”

He turned to his left, instructing the others.

“Chiefs, go back up and take care of Vihaan. Verdes, assist them.”

Verdes nodded. Marco pointed at him.

“DON’T ORDER ME AROUND, SHITGLOCK!”

Eustace pounced him.

“OH, CAN IT, MARCO!”

Captain turned back to A-K.

“A-K, locate every injured person and secure them to a hospital. Evacuate anyone else who needs to as well. Once you’re done, return here and provide backup.”

A-K saluted.

“Understood.”

Immediately, A-K took flight, disappearing in a brilliant blue flash of energy. Captain returned to his stand-off with the airship, speaking to the 23GT with his back turned.

“As for you...”

Suru interrupted him.

“Let us fight. We can handle it. We’re not weak.”

Daniel pumped his fist into the air.

“Yes! We’ve come a long way since starting! We take out petty criminals every day, what’s one-“

The 23GT were pushed out of the way with great force. With no warning, another massive shot was fired down towards them, engulfing their presence with a blinding light. Before it could make impact, however, Captain stood his ground, raised his arm...

... and caught it. Right in his palm was the shot so powerful that it could tear through buildings like paper, and Captain had caught it like it was a simple baseball. He obviously had no trouble holding it, however... his teeth were still bared, and his face was still angry. And he was staring at the group of rookies he had just saved from destruction.

“If you’re unable to grasp the fact that this is a much larger threat than what you’re used to facing, you are not yet ready to fight. If you cannot tell how horribly outmatched you are, you’re still weak. As of now, you cannot beat this enemy.”

Captain’s words struck Suru like lightning. Was she still...?

“However...”

Captain grasped onto the shot harder as he continued to speak.

“... if you can understand that, you can understand why I order you not to fight.”

Captain made eye contact with Suru. For a moment, she couldn’t hear anything but his voice.

“As your Captain, I order you to survive this day so that you may become stronger!”

Her eyes still open, Suru said nothing for a moment. And then...

“Maki. Danny. Let’s go.”

Daniel was absolutely shocked, letting out a large gasp and twirling in confusion before stopping to point at Suru.

“You’re yielding, Suru!?”

Suru closed her eyes.

“Yeah. Besides, it’s a command from the Cap. Not much we can do to fight it. Let’s go help A-K.”

Daniel clenched his fist once again, this time in sorrow.

“How unfortunate... I was so ready to decimate these fiends... ah well!”

He grabbed Maki by the back of her shirt collar and pulled her along as they ran into the distance.

“These fiends shall face the wrath of Daniel Nightbright another day!”

Eventually, the 23GT were out of sight. Captain turned his attention back to the Python Airship, its shot still in his hand.

There was a figure.

Standing atop the ship was a figure.

He couldn’t make out any of its details, but Captain recognized it. He had seen it before. He feared it.

Captain flung the shot into the air above him, the skin on his hand morphing into a shining, silver metal. He understood what the figure was telling him- once he threw this punch, there would be no turning back. He would see if his fears were right.

He hoped he was wrong.

With unrivaled power, Captain threw his fist out to meet the shot.

“BEAR FIST!”

His voice echoed through the air as the shot was sent back flying towards the airship with as much - if not more - force behind it as before. It rushed through the air, cracking sound itself with its speed, blinding the sky with its power, and at last it made impact.

But all it did was crumble.

It had been split into two pieces, separated by hissing, acidic purple sludge that seemed to consume it. It was only for a moment, but Captain could finally make out the figure. The purple sludge illuminated their body for just a moment, showing that they were tall, toned and had only needed to raise their leg to stop his attack.

His fears were right.

It was her.

The woman leaped away from the airship, landing with a crash onto the ground below. Upon her impact, puddles of the same purple sludge as before bubbled up on the ground, disintegrating anything that happened to be below them.

“You’ve grown weaker, Ammo. Or are you just holding back?”

Her words shook Captain to his core. They wrapped around him, tightening with every moment that passed.

“You do remember me, don’t you? Or am I just another one of your abandoned memories?”

She wore a long, wine-red, one-strap dress that seemed to be made of thick snake scales. Her high-heels made her as tall as Captain, though even without them she would easily tower over most. Captain couldn’t move.

“Is this what you’ve been doing? Protecting this planet from itself within a base that can’t even withstand a shot from a simple Pistolan cannon? Pathetic.”

Her skin was pale. Her lips were black. Her eyes were lined with tattoos of black snakes, making her own yellow eyes pop out like a predator’s in the night. Her straight lilac hair ran down to her shoulders, and atop her head was a pointed tricorne that matched the color of her dress and was covered in the same snake pattern seen on Vihaan. Captain couldn’t breathe.

“Why so quiet? Am I scaring you? Soldiers shouldn’t feel fear, especially for a single opponent. Isn’t that right, Ammo?”

Without a sound, the woman leaped forward. Before Captain could even blink, her leg was sweeping through the air on a collision course with his head. Captain bit down on his own lip so hard it bled and shot his arm up to block her attack. He turned to her, barely able to contain his anger.

“Why...”

Their attacks pushed against each other, causing yellow and purple sparks to fly across the battle.

“... WHY DID YOU COME BACK, BAYONE!?”

The Python tightened its grip around him.

At this point, the 23GT was far enough away from the battle that they could no longer see Captain. Though they had originally intended to help A-K evacuate survivors and provide medical care, they had ended up in a standstill, because, well...

“A-K is a quick one, isn’t he?”

Daniel checked to make sure none of his nails were cracked. Suru readjusted her glasses.

“Well, he is a robot. Pretty sure he’s built to be quick.”

She slumped onto the ground.

“... This is stupid.”

Maki and Daniel turned to look at her. She scratched her face.

“I mean, I get what Captain said, but it’s stupid. We should be able to fight with everyone else.”

Daniel grinned and held up his index finger in style.

“I agree! What, exactly, is the point of being in training if we’re not actually going to fight when real enemies appear? We become official Agents tomorrow, so I say it should be viewed more as a final exam than anything!”

Suru turned to him, squinting.

“You want to take an exam?”

He flipped his hair out of his face, creating a wave of sparkles in the air.

“My abilities are immaculate! What’s the harm in wanting to show them off!”

Daniel chuckled, Suru closed her eyes again, and Maki...

“Maybe... h- he’s right.”

They turned to Maki. She was standing by herself, facing the way they came.

“I- I mean... you guys are strong enough, I think. But... but we’re a team. And m- maybe we’re n- not...”

The three of them stopped. They all heard a noise coming closer towards them.

“... i- is someone... screaming?”

Suru stood up again and scanned the sky. It took her a moment, but she caught sight of a glowing, light blue, and, as Maki described it, screaming... thing. And it was getting bigger. And faster. She opened her eyes, brought out Green Star and shot Maki and Daniel out of the way with large, soft bullets before shooting the ground in front of her to create a barrier that barely protected her from the impact of the screaming... thing. They all stood up to find that it was a short set of jet-black armor, currently sprawled across the ground and unmoving. Daniel stood up and dusted himself off.

“Is it dead?”

The armor yelled and flailed itself up onto its feet again. Daniel brought out Nova Noir.

“Never mind!”

The screaming armor brought out a large, short musket with a large, circular muzzle. It was the same jet-black as the armor, but it had a glowing, light blue arrow pattern swirling around itself. Instead of firing it, however, the armor used it to begin trying to hit Suru like a baseball bat. Suru could barely avoid its quick, powerful flurry of attacks.

“A Firearm!? Are you human under there!?”

“THAT DOESN’T MATTER!!”

Through its violent screams, a feminine voice could be heard responding to Suru’s question. The armor managed to knock her backwards towards Daniel and Maki, who both brought out their Firearms and took up a fighting position. The armor continued to scream and pointed its Firearm at them.

“I’M HERE TO BEAT YOU THE HELL UP!!”

The armor bolted towards them. Suru’s eyes were completely opened.

“Is this the kind of exam you were looking for, Danny!?”

Daniel twirled Nova Noir around before striking a pose with it and taking aim at the armor.

“Absolutely~!”

He fired a large shot at the armor, but the armor leaped over it with ease. However, once the shot hit the ground, a large vortex appeared and began pulling the armor in. It seemed like the armor had no chance of escaping, but just before it could be sucked in, it aimed behind itself and fired off a large cannonball from its Firearm that flew through the air before flying back to the armor. The cannonball struck the armor in the back, allowing the 23GT to catch glimpse of a light blue arrow pointing away from the vortex that entered into the armor and flung it at the group with blazing speed and force. Suru and Daniel dodged, but the armor managed to ram into Maki and pin her on the ground. It began trying to slam its Firearm into her head, but it was flung off of her when Soul Burst fired a large shot into its chest. Suru and Daniel ran over to Maki. Suru fired a stone bullet at the armor, which it deflected with its Firearm.

“Maki, are you okay!?”

Maki managed to pick herself up, a small amount of blood trailing out of her mouth.

“I... I’m...”

The armor began screaming again, hopping onto its feet and-

“WAIT A MINUTE!!”

The 23GT stared at the armor as they watched it mumble to itself while counting on its fingers.

“A vortex guy... a lady with a pink Firearm... and a really tired lady with a Firearm that can shoot lots of stuff! DAMNIT!!”

The armor kicked and punched the ground, sending rocks flying in every direction. The 23GT collectively blinked in confusion. Suru brought out Green Star and fired a large, sticky shot that engulfed the armor. It didn’t seem to notice.

“I’M NOT SUPPOSED TO BEAT YOU GUYS UP TOO BAD!! I’M SUPPOSED TO BRING YOU BACK TO THE SHIP!! DAMNIT DAMNIT DAMNIT!!”

Maki gasped. They were targets? Why? Her head began spiraling with thoughts, but she was taken back to reality by Suru’s hand on her shoulder.

“Maki, knock it out.”

Maki looked around.

“Huh?”

Suru pointed at their target.

“The armor. Knock it out.”

Daniel gave two thumbs-up.

“Yes, Maki! Now’s our chance! Knock her out and we’ll have won!”

Maki... nodded. She brought out Soul Burst.

But it didn’t change. Something was different.

She couldn’t get it to fire anything powerful. Something was stopping her. Something was eating away at her.

“Maki, c’mon.”

She couldn’t get it to work.

“Now’s the time!”

She couldn’t get anything to work.

“Maki!”

The armor broke free of Green Star’s bullet and began running towards them.

“Hurry, Maki!”

Daniel and Suru began trying to hold the armor down again, but it was too late. It dodged and reflected everything they fired at it. It fired multiple shots into the ground, causing the ground below to erupt and rush towards the group. It was too large to avoid. Maki had to do something. Maki had to do anything. But all Maki could do was...

“I’m sorry... I can’t...”

...

...

...

She looked around. The ground that had been approaching them had been split into hundreds of tiny pieces, scattered all around them. Daniel and Suru were staring in awe of a new, golden figure in front of them. It was another suit of armor, but while the screaming one was that of a knight, this was one...

... of a samurai.

The armor had been pushed back.

“WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT!? WHAT THE HELL... ARE YOU!?”

The samurai’s armor was a brilliant shining gold with stripes of black. It had a hilt on its side that it grasped, ready to attack at any moment. It said nothing.

“ARRRRRRRRRGH! GET THE HELL OUTTA MY WAY!!”

The armor used its Firearm to fling itself at the samurai, but the samurai did not move. A quiet scraping sound was heard before a flash of light pushed back the armor again, this time with a thin gash across its chest. It was gasping for strength and fell on one knee. Suru aimed Green Star at the samurai.

“... Who are you? What do you want?”

The samurai turned its head towards the 23GT.

“... Apologies, but we’ll have to make proper introductions later.”

The armor managed to pick itself up and once again bolt towards the samurai. The samurai did not turn around.

“However, there is something you should know.”

Suru tried to fire at the armor, but before she could, the samurai unsheathed a black and yellow katana and sliced away at the armor like lightning, sending streaks of light into it and cutting it open like it was an axe against wood. It finished by sending one long, diagonal slice through the armor’s body, almost slicing it and two and causing it to be thrust back with ease.

“I am a member of TRIGGER’s First Generational Team. My name is Maxwell Manderson.”

The armor had been brought down in a matter of moments.

The 23GT were speechless. Maxwell put away his katana.

“... I’m sorry, did I scare you? I didn’t mean to-“

“OH, TRÈS MAGNIFIQUE!”

Daniel lunged over to Maxwell, inspecting his gloriously shiny armor.

“You said you’re an Agent!? Tell me, how did you get an outfit this beautiful!? Can A-K make such truly astonishing sets of armor as these!? AND THAT SWORDSMANSHIP!! Such precision and accuracy may dare approach my own!”

Maxwell laughed.

“Hold it, hold it! We can talk later! You’re Daniel, right? Captain told me you were excitable!”

Daniel didn’t listen. He just continued to move around Maxwell, enchanted by his armor. Suru walked over to him.

“Is that sword your Firearm? How is that possible?”

Maxwell turned over to her.

“Huh? Oh, you must be Suru!... And that makes her Maki, right?”

Maki waved, keeping her distance. Maxwell waved back.

Maxwell took off his helmet. He had fair skin, slicked back, short brown hair that had a few gray streaks flowing through it and a black cloth wrapped around his eyes. He pulled it down to show that he had large, hazel eyes, a gentle smile and a few faded scars scattered across his face.

“It’s nice to meet you! Captain’s told me you’re quite the prodigy... I can see why!”

He unsheathed his katana once again, allowing for them to get a closer look. Its hilt was black, its guard was covered in a beehive pattern, and its blade was half black, half gold.

“Yup, this is my Firearm. It’s called Dokushin- it takes the form of a katana, but it works the same way as any other regular Firearm. It fires thin, razor-sharp beams of light that I can control the shape of by creating different motions with it. Pretty cool, huh?”

Daniel nearly passed out from its beauty, but Suru managed to catch him before he slammed into the ground. Maki worked up the courage to go over to Maxwell and ask him a question.

“I- I thought F- Firearms had to be, uh... g- guns?”

Maxwell put away Dokushin.

“Well, Firearms are just what we call weapons that we create and summon via our psyches. As long as it comes from the mind and fires off some kind of projectile, it’s a Firearm. Mine just happens to look a little different. Now, then...”

Maxwell put his cloth and helmet back on.

“It would be best if you all stayed behind me. I’d like to talk more, but we’re in the middle of a situation.

The 23GT nodded... Suru reluctantly so.

“WAIT...”

They turned to see the armor getting back up from Maxwell’s attack.

“WE’RE... NOT DONE...!”

As soon as it managed to pull itself up, half of its helmet fell onto the ground, showing the face of a young girl. Maxwell took his hands off of Dokushin.

“Wait... you’re just a child! Are you hurt? Have you been kidnapped?”

The girl pointed to a tattoo on her exposed cheek.

“NO!! I AM ARDORIYA!! THE FOURTH STRONGEST OF THE PYTHON SPACE PIRATES!! MY BIRTHDAY IS TAMON CHERAT EUNTEN!! MY FAVORITE FOOD IS SWEET BREAD!! I HAVE BEEN SENT HERE TO CAPTURE THE GUY WHO TALKS FUNNY, THE CRYING LADY AND THE LADY IN THE PAJAMAS!! GET THE HELL OUTTA MY WAY!!”

...

“You’ve been sent here to capture people?”

“Tamon what now?”

“S- Sweet bread?”

“WHAT DID YOU SAY I TALK LIKE!?”

“SHUT THE HELL UP!!”

Ardoriya flung herself into the crowd.

“LET ME BEAT THE HELL OUTTA YOU!!”

Maxwell took out Dokushin, though he did not use its edge. He turned it around to the more dull side, not wanting to hurt Ardoriya.

“Stay back!”

His Dokushin met Ardoriya’s Firearm, and the two clashed with a bang.

“You survived... I see.”

The DonLeones, Verdes and an unwilling Roxanne had made it back up to the top of TRIGGER HQ, where Vihaan had been observing the action below. He did not move; he simply stood on the edge with perfect balance, allowing the wind to let his hair and clothes flow.

Marco hated this guy.

“Of course we survived. You think we’re a buncha measly soldiers who can’t handle a five-story drop?”

Vihaan chuckled.

“Oh, not in the slightest. In fact, I’m quite glad that you’re back up here. Because...”

Vihaan turned around to find the team’s Firearms pointed at his head, but he did not stop smiling. The eyeball on his forehead focused in on them, and light erupted from his back.

“... I get to have a little more fun before all this is over.”

Shots were fired at point blank range against Vihaan, but not a single one landed- instead, the team was pushed back, slamming into the room’s back wall. Eustace picked himself up, aiming Protector at Vihaan once again.

“What the hell was...!?”

Eustace’s voice trailed off as he bore witness to Vihaan, floating like an angel, using a Firearm made of a golden light that was identical to his own. Vihaan smiled.

“Chief Eustace DonLeone... your Protector isn’t all that potent offensively, though I suppose that’s not its focus... still, I must say, it’s wonderful for blocking attacks. And, Agent Verdes...”

Another copy, this time of The Garden, formed next to Vihaan out of more light.

“... The Garden is wonderfully powerful, though the amount of focus it takes to control each vine isn’t ideal.”

Verdes got himself up, gritting his teeth.

“Don’t talk like you know how to use my Firearm.”

“Oh, but I do.”

The eye on Vihaan’s forehead twitched, focusing on something moving in the back.

“My Third Eye allows me to peer into your psyches and replicate your abilities with...”

Vihaan’s smile turned into an annoyed frown.

“... Roxanne Rosegold.”

The moving figure stopped and slowly turned around. It was, in fact, Roxanne, who was currently trying to escape quietly. Unfortunately for her, she was bad at doing things quietly.

“Y.. Yeah, that’s my name. Don’t wear it out, bud.”

She was trembling furiously. Vihaan sighed.

“Python paid you a generous sum for a relatively simple task, and yet, here you are, a failure. You disgust me.”

Vihaan used his copy of The Garden to wrap a thick vine around Roxanne’s neck.

“Though, it is my policy to be courteous, so I’ll let you pass out before I throw you off this building-“

The vine was suddenly cut by a long, red, hose-like object with golden spikes at its end.

“That lady’s a convict. You don’t got the right to strangle her, got it!?”

Vihaan turned to see Marco, who had three more of the hoses all coming out of his back. Vihaan smiled.

“I was hoping you’d show me your Firearm, Chief Marco DonLeone. Narcotics... from what I hear, anyone stabbed with one of those spikes has a powerful hallucinogenic injected into their system. It’s wonderful, though the way it manifests is quite unorthodox.”

Marco spit on the ground.

“Don’t talk to me about unorthodox, you three-eyed freak.”

Eustace and Verdes got up again, readying their Firearms. Marco held up four fingers.

“I’m giving you to the count of three to surrender yourself.”

Vihaan smiled. Marco put down his index finger.

“One.”

Eustace and Verdes took aim. Marco put down his ring finger.

“Two.”

There was silence. Marco put down his pinky.

“Three.”

All that was left was his middle finger.

“Your funeral, bitch.”

Vihaan once again sent out a flurry of shots, but this time Eustace quickly used Protector to stop them from reaching. Marco and Verdes both jumped to the side, sending out vines and hoses in all directions. Vihaan leaped off the edge, using Narcotics to keep himself in the air before using Protector to create a shield over their bullets and crushing them onto the floor. He then flung himself forward, landing silently behind Protector’s shield and quickly using Narcotics to take out Eustace. Marco and Verdes quickly rushed back to the other side- Verdes uses The Garden to send a flurry of vines at Vihaan, but he cut through them with Narcotics and reached Verdes’ neck, knocking him out. He quickly snapped back behind him, meeting Marco’s Narcotics with his own.

“I hope your ability isn’t lethal, Chief Marco DonLeone. Such beautiful minds shouldn’t be subject to such a cruel fate.”

Marco gritted his teeth, pushing back against Vihaan’s Narcotics with all his strength.

“NOBODY HURTS MY BROTHER BUT ME, YOU BASTARD!”

“Well, then...”

Vihaan pushed back Marco and sent a hose straight into his neck.

“... I hope you can forgive me for breaking the rules.”

Marco fell, and Vihaan stood over him. He radiated light, and even against three top Firearm users, he had been left unscathed. He was truly a cursed angel, now ready to-

“You’ve assaulted two officers of the law and an Agent of TRIGGER. Add that to your assistance in bombing a city in what can be assumed as an act of terrorism, and you are currently facing a minimum of twenty-six years in a maximum security penitentiary. If you surrender yourself now, we will allow you to plead guilty for a minimum of twenty-five years.”

The bodies of Marco, Eustace and Verdes were gone. In front of Vihaan was A-K, who had managed to move the team so quickly that Vihaan had failed to notice him. He was silent for a moment, then chuckled.

“I hadn’t heard of you before we began this operation, but you’re Captain Shotglock’s assistant, yes?”

A-K brought out his arm cannon.

“Unimportant. Surrender yourself now.”

Vihaan put his hands together.

“Ahh, it’s always surrender, surrender, surrender with you government officials. In case you haven’t noticed...”

Vihaan fired a wave of light at him.

“... I don’t find surrender very- AUGH”

A-K had bolted out of the way and shot Vihaan in the back with a massive burst of blue energy. There was a moment before Vihaan was sent flying where time seemed to slow. He crashed into the wall, confused and disoriented. Vihaan was the light. But A-K...

“I must warn you now- my Captain has allowed for the overclocking of my internal battling and processing system to multiply my overall power and speed by approximately ten-point-ninety-eight-repeating percent. If you continue this fight, I cannot assure your safety.”

... A-K was faster than light. 

Vihaan got up, smiling and chuckling through his teeth at the powered-up A-K, who was now standing in a position that showed he was ready to fire. His exposed wires gave off a blue radiation that shone through his armor as glowing, powerful patterns. Vihaan loved it.

“Finally! The true power of a-“

“I’m not here for banter. Surrender yourself now.”

Vihaan... nodded.

“I understand.”

With a bang, Vihaan sent light out all around him, creating a shield with Protector behind him. A-K, however, did not approach him directly; he slammed into Vihaan from above, electrifying his body as it fell through the floor. Vihaan managed to kick him off before they got lower, picking himself up and laughing all the while.

“When my Third Eye first saw you, you were nothing more than a machine. But now... I can see something else rising within you! What are you truly-“

A-K shot through the floor beneath them, flew under it and shot Vihaan upward. His body still in midair, A-K quickly rushed to grab hold of him and deployed a wire to tie him up. He put him on his back and flew back down to the building, and began making his way to the surface.

On the surface, the 23GT were once again stuck doing nothing as Maxwell continued to fend off a battle-hungry Ardoriya.

“I’M NOT DONE YET!!!”

In reality, she had used up all her strength ten minutes ago, but she continued to lunge at Maxwell, who was attempting to reason with her.

“Ardoriya, are you hurt? We can take you to a hospital if you yield.”

“I’D RATHER DIE!!”

Suru scoffed.

“You might as well.”

Maxwell turned to face the 23GT. Daniel was bored, Maki was quiet and Suru was annoyed. Maxwell could feel it.

“Kids, it’s important to view this... not as a wasted opportunity to fight, but rather an new opportunity on learning how to negotiate with the enemy.”

He turned to face Ardoriya, who was standing still.

“See? She’s stopped.”

Maxwell took a step forward, but he stopped. He saw that Ardoriya was still moving, but she was backing away slowly rather than rushing towards the group. It was strange. Very strange. He held out his hand...

... but he stopped.

“Ardoriya, enough.”

A new voice from the back caught Maxwell’s attention. He turned his head, but a stabbing pain engulfed his body when he did. Ardoriya stuck her head up.

“WHAT THE HELL, JORN!? YOU SAID YOU’D LET ME FIGHT!!”

The man named Jorn took a drag on his cigarette.

“That was before someone like Manderson decided to show up. You’re at your limit.”

Jorn was tall, his body was muscular, and he wore a pair of dress shoes and blue jeans. The right half of his body looked normal; sandy skin, messy black hair, tired eyes, stubble... and on his cheek was the same tattoo Ardoriya had. He held in his hand a mini-gun by its handle. It was covered in spikes and seemingly had white cracks that ran through its otherwise pitch-black body, and its revolver was rotating slowly. His left side, however, was completely inhuman; that side was pale yellow, dirty, was covered head-to-toe in messy black writing and had multiple locks and chains pierced into it. His face on that side looked like a nightmarish exoskeleton; exposed teeth, an exposed naval cavity and a glowing red eye. He was a truly terrifying sight... but something about him was familiar to Maxwell.

“I wouldn’t talk if I were you, Manderson. I can’t help you if my Firearm rips your jaw off.”

Even the slightest movement caused searing pain to run through Maxwell. Even looking down made him feel like his eyelids were peeling off. But he had to look. He had to.

Because the 23GT were frozen.

Standing above them, Jorn hit them all over the head hard enough to visibly knock them out. At this point, he was close enough that Maxwell could see what was happening; Jorn’s revolver was releasing some kind of clear mist as it turned. Maxwell felt incredibly cold, but shivering made him feel like he was being stabbed by microscopic knives all over his body. Jorn took another drag of his cigarette.

“Ardoriya, we’re leaving. Tell the others we got what we came for.”

“SHUT UP!!”

Ardoriya pulled out a small device from within her armor and pushed a button before storming off. Jorn stopped for a moment beside Maxwell, taking his cigarette out of his mouth and leaning in close to his unmoving body.

“Sorry, Manderson. Captain’s orders.”

All Maxwell could do was watch as Jorn walked off.

A chilling laugh escaped from Vihaan. A-K stopped.

“Why are you laughing?”

Vihaan said nothing. He continued to laugh.

But this laugh was different.

“Why are you laughing?”

Vihaan did not move.

“Finally... we got what we came for. You’re finally going to feel what it feels like to be completely and utterly crushed, TRIGGER...”

A-K raised his voice.

“Why are you laughing?”

Vihaan raised his head up to meet A-K’s.

“Those children that you sent to stop our mercenaries... we got them.”

“We’re going... to kill them.”

TO BE CONTINUED


	13. Episode 12 - A Brand-New Link

Seventy-five years ago, a brutal civil war began within Planet Pistola, and its biomechanical people, the Pistoleros. The war was fought over The Barnham Initiative; a plan to use newly-developed and revolutionary Pistolan war technology to forcibly weaponize the people living within the United Planets of the Known Universe in Title Totality, also known as UPKUTT. The war was split between two parties- the larger and more powerful Pistolan Military, and the smaller yet determined Preservationalists. It seemed like a victory for the Pistolan Military was imminent, but thanks to the support provided by Planet Earth’s military, the Preservationalists won and The Barnham Initiative was stopped. The leader of the Preservationalists oversaw the implementation of Firearms on Planet Earth as a gift for their war efforts, and would travel there to establish an organization meant to keep Firearm-based crime and terrorism in check- the Team Responsible for Irradiating Goons and Greater Evils Respectfully, also known as TRIGGER. The leader of the Pistolan Military was tried and found guilty of war crimes in the UPKUTT Supreme Court, and was subsequently banished and presumably died. That is the history children are taught in school, the history scholars have recorded for years, the history widely accepted as fact.

But the truth is about to come out.

And history is going to change.

-02:07 PM, April 8th, 2111-

“You’re what!?”

A-K threw Vihaan down from his back and pointed his arm cannon at his head. Vihaan laughed.

“Our Captain wants to destroy everything your Captain has built up. TRIGGER, this world’s safety... everything. She thought hiring mercenaries would be able to wear you all down... but, evidently, she was wrong.”

Vihaan’s teeth were in full view as he smiled from ear to ear. A-K put the gun closer to his face.

“Say that again! What are you planning to do!?”

“She observed their failures and found one constant, one unforeseeable roadblock in her plans... those children. Captain Shotglock’s prodigies, she could only assume. So she decided today would be a day not for domination... but for execution!”

A-K was ready to fire.

“I’M TIRED OF YOUR VOICE! WHAT ARE YOU PLANNING TO-“

A-K was shot.

A hole appeared in his chest, exposing wires and gears galore. As his camera flickered off, he saw Vihaan stand up once again.

“My Third Eye finally saw through to your psyche... you’re more than some simple battle machine, aren’t you...?”

And then there was dark.

“Are you sure you can hold ‘em all like that?”

Jorn and Ardoriya were making their way back to the airship.

“OF COURSE!! WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK I AM!?”

Jorn was more than capable of carrying the unconscious 23GT on his own, but Ardoriya insisted that she be the one to carry them... despite being only half his height.

“You’re way too stubborn, that’s what.”

“WAY TOO STUBBORN ISN’T A NAME!! I’M ARDORIYA!! AAAAAAAARGH!!”

“... Right. How could I forget?”

Jorn blew smoke into the air as he approached their Captain.

“Bayone. We got ‘em.”

Bayone turned to the duo with a smile.

“Excellent work, you two. Ardoriya, I’ll make you sweet bread tonight.”

Ardoriya yelled so hard in excitement she almost passed out. Bayone turned back to her opponent.

“Do you see that, Ammo? I’ve gotten what I came here for, and without a single casualty.”

She walked over to him, and stepped down hard.

“I knew you’d be weaker... but this... it’s pitiful. You shouldn’t even consider yourself Pistolan anymore.”

Captain’s body was on the ground, motionless, but alive. His skin had been burnt by Bayone’s poison, his bones had been broken by her kicks, and his spirit had been extinguished by her presence. His world, his family, everything was in danger, but he couldn’t fight back.

He couldn’t fight back.

Bayone turned back to Jorn and Ardoriya, who were now being levitated back into the airship.

“You two, begin preparations for the public execution. I’ll be there shortly. As for you...”

Bayone bent down to Captain’s head.

He was being beaten.

“Stay alive.”

He was being taunted.

“I want you to see it.”

He was about to lose what he loved most.

“I want you to see how they scream and beg,”

And, finally-

“I want you to see how they die.”

He snapped.

Captain grabbed Bayone by the neck with a force so great that tungsten would snap in half. She struggled to break free, but her power was nothing in the face of his rage. He slowly sat up, turned to Bayone, and in that moment,

“I WILL NOT LET THEM DIE.”

he was a monster.

Captain slammed Bayone’s head into the ground, causing the planet itself to shake and for a large crater to be created around them. He turned his focus towards Ardoriya and Joan as he stood up, Bayone still in his grasp. His body overflowing with rage, he sent a powerful shot their way, knocking both of them back onto the ground. He sent a smaller wave of energy towards Suru, who woke up as soon as it made impact.

“I... where...?”

“SURU!”

Suru turned her attention to Captain. She had no idea what was going on, but...

“MAKE SURE YOU AND YOUR TEAM SURVIVE AND ESCAPE! THAT IS AN ORDER!”

... she understood completely.

The doors shut. There was quiet.

She was here.

He was here.

She was...

...

...

...

Why was she here?

“Maki, something came for you in the mail.”

Maki had just opened the door to her apartment after being at school all day. It was cold outside, but the sunset was beautiful. Her mother was in the kitchen, making dinner.

“O... Oh. Who’s it f- from...?”

Eliza smiled.

“Well, no one in particular. It’s actually...”

She turned around and put the letter in front of her.

“... from TRIGGER! You qualify for the training program! Isn’t that exciting?”

Maki put down her bag, trying to look... okay.

“... Uh... y- yeah. It’s... exciting.”

There was silence.

“I- I have to go feed Edward.”

...

Eventually, dinner had been made. It was some sort of pasta. There wasn’t any talking. Maki and her mom didn’t talk much these days.

“Do you think you’ll apply?”

Maki looked up from her food. She hadn’t eaten much... she was never really that hungry.

“F- For what?”

Eliza scarfed down some pasta.

“The training program. TRIGGER.”

Maki looked away.

“... Um... I... I’m sure they only sent th- that because I c- can summon a F- Firearm. I- It doesn’t mean I sh-“

“But Soul Burst is really something special, Maki. I think you’d do great!”

She was always saying that. She always thought Maki would do great. But Maki knew herself. Maki knew she wasn’t good at fighting... she could barely interact with her own family. She knew how she would really do. And she hated it.

She hated it because she knew.

“W- Well... I... I don’t...”

Maki didn’t finish her sentence. She didn’t finish dinner, either. Eventually she just left.

...

“Can I come in?”

“... S- Sure...”

Maki’s room was small. Their whole apartment was. The only light was a purple nightlight plugged into the wall that illuminated Maki, laying on her stomach in her pajamas on the bed. She looked tired. She looked sad. All she did was stare at Edward.

Eliza walked over to her bed and sat down.

“Y’know, your father always wanted to be part of TRIGGER.”

Maki continued to stare at Edward.

“... I th- thought he was okay being a p- police officer.”

Eliza nodded.

“He was, he was... but it wasn’t his real goal. Neither was being part of TRIGGER, really... he just wanted to help people. But he couldn’t make the cut for TRIGGER, so he found a compromise.”

Maki turned her attention toward her mother.

“I know you’re... I dunno, you don’t have a goal yet, right? That’s okay, Maki. Really, it is. And I know how Soul Burst causes trouble for you in school. That’s okay too. I just... I really think this would be good for you. Even just applying could help you. It could help you control Soul Burst, it could help you figure out what you wanna do... you might even meet people.”

That wouldn’t happen.

“I love you, Maki. Your father would say the same thing if he was here.”

How would she know?

“He’d be so, so proud of you.”

He wouldn’t be proud. He’d be baffled how an officer’s daughter turned out like this. Just a body drifting from day to day, no purpose, no goal.

Anytime she tried to grab onto something, it would just break in her hands. All because of her.

He’d be proud? What’s the point in saying that? Why would she put that pressure on her?

Why does she have to meet the expectations of someone who’s not even alive?

“Maki! You’re awake~!”

Maki slowly opened her eyes. In front of her face was Daniel. His sparkles hurt her eyes.

“Wh... Where...?”

“We’re on that airship those Python guys came in.”

Maki stood up. It was Suru, trying to figure out where to go. Maki began looking around.

“H... H- How did w- we...?”

“We were attacked. It got us knocked out. I dunno why they brought us here, but Captain ordered us to escape. So... that’s what we’re doing.”

Daniel stood up.

“It’d be a lot easier, too, if these imbeciles would put up a few signs! Really, these halls all look the same, it’s atrocious! How are you supposed to get around when...”

Maki began breathing heavily. She looked around- the interior of the ship was completely black, only illuminated by blood-red wires running through the walls. The floor was cold, but the air was hot. What was going on outside? Was there even an outside anymore? Oh, god, could they even go outside? Were they still on earth? No, no, they have to be able to go back. They have to. They’re still young. She’s still young. She hasn’t done anything with herself yet. She needs more time. Please, she needs more time. She can’t die here. She doesn’t want to die here. Please, please, she can’t, she can’t-

“I CAN’T DO THIS ANYMORE!”

Suru and Daniel turned to see Maki, holding herself and sobbing as she fell to the floor.

“I... I’m sorry, but I c- can’t do this anym- more...”

She was trembling. Her voice was cracking. Daniel held out his arm, but Suru stopped him.

“Ev... Every single d- day we h- have to fight against p- people with weird powers that w- want us... dead... I can’t d- do it anymore! Y- You guys were m- made for it, but I just can’t! I just c- can’t!”

Her nose began to run. Her face turned a bright red.

“I w- wanna help you guys... b- but I’m useless... I got into th- this on a f- fluke, and all be- because my dad want... wanted to be a TRIGGER Agent! B- But he’s not even a- alive anymore! H- He’s dead! I’m the st- stupid, useless d- daughter of some dead g- guy I’ve never m- met that’s n- nothing but a burden for you! For Captain! F- For A-K, for Mr. E- Eustace, M- Mr. Marco, Verdes, everyone! I c- couldn’t get stronger, s- so we had to run! But I was t- too scared to q- quit... A- AND NOW WE’RE GONNA DIE! ALL B- BECAUSE I’M A FUCKING IDIOT!”

Maki sobbed. She could barely speak anymore. All she could do was choke on her own tears. Daniel and Suru were silent. They had no idea she felt this way, and her words weighed on their hearts like anchors. They watched as she curled up into herself and cry, eventually falling onto her side. She was alone.

“Do you know why I asked you to shoot?”

Maki looked up. She could barely see her through the tears, but in front of her was a crouching Suru.

“I mean, I shouldn’t have. It was too much pressure to put on you. But do you know why I asked you to shoot?”

Maki looked away from her, trying and failing to keep her sobs in.

“It’s because you’re our strength, Maki.”

Maki did nothing.

“You’re an absolute powerhouse. Even if you can’t control it, the amount of power you can pack into one of your shots is amazing. Way better than anything I could do.”

Maki did nothing.

“It’s why I always ask you to take the shot. Me and Danny might be more equipped to handle danger, but we might as well be without Firearms if we didn’t have your power on our side.”

Daniel sat down next to Maki and held her tight. He teared up as he spoke.

“Even beyond that, we need you here, Maki. You’re not at all useless, or stupid, or weak... if you want to get stronger, we’re here to support you. We want you to be happy, no matter what that entails. And I’m sorry if I made you feel less than spectaculaire... I can’t help it.”

Suru squinted at that last part, but she knew it was just Daniel’s way of being genuine. Maki looked up at Suru, tears still streaming down. Suru opened her eyes to look at her.

“... You don’t have to know what you want your future to be. You don’t have to have a goal yet, Maki. You just have to have faith in the now. And, right now...”

Suru smiled.

“... we’re gonna blow this joint together.”

Suru put out her hand. Maki wiped her tears, sighed, reached out...

“Okay.”

... and grabbed Suru’s hand.

Suddenly, light.

A spectacular burst of energy blew Daniel back a good number of feet, sending him spiraling across the cold, dirty floor. Usually Daniel’s reaction to such a thing would be to violently clean himself, but now... he simply scrambled back up to his feet, watching the display in front of him from a distance. Maki and Suru, both enveloped in pink and green energy, stood side by side as Soul Burst and Green Star exploded into hundreds of tiny pieces and began to combine. The combined parts crowded around the duo, creating a mechanical suit large enough to carry the both of them. Its limbs were divided between pink and green, pink on the left, green on the right, its head was a circular helmet whose neck and jaw were green and whose head was pink, and in the middle, the symbol of a bright, loving heart within a sharp, determined star appeared in a flash. After the last of its pieces were locked in, the suit released another powerful aura and lit up like a star in the light. Its heart beat as it began to move, and on its helmet two sharp, white rectangles acting as eyes were formed. The transformation suddenly stopped with a loud bang as the suit stood tall.

“Wh... What? What is this? What did we do!?”

Daniel was so enveloped in awe that he could barely speak.

“That... THAT WAS INCREDIBLE! WHAT!? HOW!? WHY!? I LOVED IT!!!”

The suit looked at itself, though it seemed to switch between curiosity and fear.

“What is this... thing? I want to leave! I want to get out of it! Hold on! You have to hold on, Maki!”

Its voice sounded like Maki’s and Suru’s all at once, though Daniel could tell who was overtaking who when it spoke. It was barely holding itself together- occasionally it would start to come apart on Maki’s end, only for Suru to take back control and hold it down.

“Maki, I think I know what this is! You d- do!? What is it!? This is it! This is what we’ve been trying to reach!”

“This is... a Linked Firearm!”

The Linked Firearm began to deform faster than before.

“WAIT, WHAT!? H- HOW ARE WE SUPPOSED TO M... K... I... don’t worry about it! All we know right now is that it’s just... it’s just a suit! A really big suit that you’d control like any other Firearm, except that we have to control it together! Maki, you have to have faith! You have to stay calm! I CAN’T, I J- JUST- yes you can! Your mind is stronger than you think! YOU’RE NOT ALONE, MAKI! WE’RE GONNA CONTROL THIS THING TOGETHER!”

At this point, the Linked Firearm almost seemed like its two sides were arguing. Its right side held its hand out to its left, but its left faltered.

“I... I just...”

It looked at its hands. One of them were trembling, one of them was still. There was so much fear, doubt, determination and strength in its mind, in its body... all of them flowed and rushed together, and suddenly it was an ocean. An ocean within itself, within a raging storm, within absolute hopelessness, but still the hand reached out. All it had to do was grab it. It had to grab its own hand, its own raft, its own safety- for if it was going to survive the storm, it had to do it as one.

“... O... O- Okay...!”

The hands were locked, and finally, they were linked.

“Alright! N- Now what!? One more thing!”

It pointed at Daniel.

“Danny! We need a name for this thing!”

Daniel did an ecstatic flip.

“YOU’LL LET ME NAME IT!?”

“G- Give us something with... uh... FLAIR! Quick! We need flair!”

Daniel put his hand up to his chin, his mind’s sparkles twinkling like never before.

“I HAVE IT!”

He cleared his throat and faced the wall in front of them.

“Maki! Suru! Your connection has passed the ultimate test, and has gained the ultimate power! With it, your light shall be the one that breaks through this darkness and leads us towards a new day! Yes! The road you will create is vast, bright and forever winding! You are... FATEMAKER!”

“Cool! Great! Let’s go!”

Fatemaker stuck its arm out towards the wall Daniel faced, and suddenly had it transform into a large cannon whose muzzle had the same design as Fatemaker’s chest. It fired off a large, pink and green slime ball that stuck to the wall.

“W- Wait... is that it? Damnit, how do we attack with this thing!? Oh, G- God....”

Suddenly, the slime turned from pink and green to blue and red, and an explosion of ice and fire blew the wall clean open.

“Wh- What was that!? Wait, our emotions let us change the composition of the bullets... even after they’re fired?”

Fatemaker looked at its own cannon.

“Neat.”

Daniel hopped through the opening.

“Use your power to free us from this cage, Fatemaker!”

Fatemaker nodded.

“Right! I- I’ll try!”

Fatemaker dashed forward, turning its other arm into an identical cannon and firing again at the next wall.

“Th- This is hard to control... but we can do it!”

The slime turned orange and yellow, causing a massive flash of exploding lightning to break through another wall. Fatemaker continued its advance, colors and bullets and emotions all flying in every direction. Daniel was right; in this dark, cold ship of despair, Fatemaker continued to push itself through, despite barely being able to maintain its form. They knew not what awaited them outside, but still, they pushed. Not out of fear, not out of brash, reckless abandon... but out of strength. They all wanted to get stronger, and the unrivaled power of this elemental combination of their souls, bodies, hearts and minds... that was what truly let them break through. That was what led them to the sky.

That was what made the light appear again.

“Mistress!?”

As Vihaan stepped out of TRIGGER HQ, he saw in full view just how brutal the battle between Captains had become; both were bleeding from deep cuts and wounds, yet neither of them yielded. Bayone leaped and dove into Captain with her legs, sending a wave of venom across his body. He let out a furious roar, and with his burning hands, he grabbed her legs and suplexed her into the ground below, sending a burst of yellow energy into the ground with such force that the soil broke apart into cubes and were flung into the sky. Bayone recovered, quickly kicking Captain across the head and flipping back over to Vihaan.

“What is it!?”

Vihaan bowed.

“Mistress, there are distress signals coming from the ship... something is wreaking havoc.”

Bayone growled.

“Damnit... it must be those brats that were sent up to the ship. No matter. I’ll just break their fingers before cutting off their heads as punishment.”

Captain leaped into the sky and plunged his first downward like a meteor, but Bayone blocked with her leg. Captain let out a growl, and Bayone pushed him off.

“What was it, Ammo!? What suddenly gave you the idea that you’re some beacon of hope and peace that’s destined to protect everything!? You’ve always let power go to your head, but if I knew you’d let it grow so big that you abandon our people, I’D HAVE CHOPPED IT OFF WHEN I HAD THE CHANCE!”

Captain staggered on the ground for a moment.

“I... HAVE THINGS I WANT TO PROTECT! PEOPLE I WANT TO PROTECT! I REFUSE TO LOSE THEM-“

The sound of bones snapping in two filled the air as Bayone kneed Captain in his stomach and turned to whisper to him.

“That’s why I’m stronger than you, Ammo. I don’t let the fear of loss give me strength; I use the fact that I have nothing anymore to fuel my rage.

You took everything from me, Ammo.

And I’ll burn you alive for it.”

Captain was sent flying back, crashing into the ground with a boom. He struggled to get himself up, coughing up a pool of blood when he did. Both Captains were breathing heavily, but only one had the strength left to win. Bayone walked over, put her heel on Captain’s neck, and pushed down.

“Die.”

She lowered her heel.

... But she missed.

Above them, a massive explosion happened within the Python airship, blasting a hole through it and causing black and red technology to rain down on the scene. Captain looked up, and saw that in the middle of the chaos, a shining figure of pink and green was flying through the air with Daniel behind them. He only saw it for a moment before it split in two and revealed an unconscious Maki and Suru within, but he knew what had happened. They found it.

They found their strength.

This was no place to die.

Captain lunged forward before Bayone could attack him further, jumped with all his might and caught the 23GT before crashing down.

“Daniel, are you awake!?”

Daniel was a bit delirious from the impact, swaying fabulously.

“Like a rooster at sunrise, Sir.”

Captain poked his head with enough force to set him straight for a while.

“Find a safe place to take shelter. I’m about to end this.”

Daniel could now see how bloody Captain was.

“Wait, are you sure you’ll be okay!?”

Captain stood up, turned around, and raised his fist as his entire body turned into a shining metal.

“I refuse to let anyone die here, Daniel. Not you, not your team, not any of our allies. And now... I’ll make sure that I survive as well.”

Daniel nodded, and quickly ran off with Maki and Suru in hand.

Captain and Bayone were now on opposite sides of the massive crater, staring each other down. Bayone’s skin mimicked Captain’s, turning into a shining, silver metal.

“Vihaan, recon with Ardoriya and Jorn. I’ll catch up with you when I’m done here.”

Vihaan bowed once more.

“Of course, Mistress.”

A large amount of light erupted from his back, and like that, he was gone.

The Captains were the only ones left.

There was silence. There was tension. For a moment, the planet stood still.

They clashed.

Bayone sent down a flurry of kicks, which Captain blocked with his own rush of punches.

“BEAR GATLING!”

The explosive power of Captain’s punches turned into claws that pushed against the fangs of Bayone’s acidic sludge. She leaped up from his fists, twirled in the air and came down on his head with a powerful vertically spinning kick, her venom like a snake biting off the head of its prey.

“BOLT SNAKE!”

Captain grit his teeth and yelled as he gripped Bayone’s leg and pushed her down with one hand, using the other to punch her in the stomach and send her flying into the side of the crater. Captain sunk his feet into the ground as Bayone stood up again.

“IT’S TIME TO END THIS, BAYONE!”

Streaks of yellow light escaped from Captain’s silver body, tearing off his clothes from their sheer power. Steam was being released from every part of his body, and the whirring of gears filled the air as his arm extended outward and morphed into a long, powerful barrel that took in his fist. Bayone screamed as her body did the same, spirals of purple light illuminating her body and tearing off clothes just as Captain’s did, extending out her leg in the same way Captain had done to his arm. The ground was shaking violently as lightning split the sky and black steam enveloped the area, the only light left being the Captains. The rubble, the buildings and even the airship began being flung through the air as a result of the sheer force, and finally, their voices echoed through the chaos.

＂ＢＥＡＲ ＡＲＭＳ！！！＂

＂ＢＯＲＥ ＳＮＡＫＥ！！！＂

Two gargantuan shots were fired at once, taking the form of a raging grizzly and bloodthirsty python. They stampeded through the darkness towards each other, leaving nothing but destruction in their wake- their mere presence caused the airship to skin to the ground and explode. They both had intent to kill. They both were going to kill.

There was impact.

The animals combined and fused, setting off a massive explosion that sent both Captains flying backwards into the still standing buildings from afar. It was a few moments before they got up, but when they both managed to stand, they found something terrifying.

Where their powers had clashed, only one thing remained.

Not a building, not a weapon

but a figure.

A glowing pink figure tore at the ground, screaming in pain and agony. It was like a raging animal, barely able to speak, barely able to think. Its every movement caused the Captain’s bodies to ache with a deep, brutal pain. The figure let out one final roar and burst of energy before escaping into the air, leaving nothing but an end to the battle. Bayone turned back.

“I’m going to kill you both. You and that beast.”

Captain said nothing as she walked away. He no longer had the strength.

He blacked out.

“Maki?”

“Hello? Maki?”

“MAKI!”

Maki yelped as she was suddenly shaken awake. She was no longer in the ship; it looked like she was in a hospital.

“Ah, there you are! You really need to stop blacking out, Maki. It’s taxing on my sensitive heart.”

Daniel was in front of her face, which seemed to be becoming a constant for when she woke up. She looked to the side- everyone was there, staring at her. Captain, A-K, Verdes, the DonLeones, Maxwell... and Suru.

Suru put up a peace sign with her hand.

“Yo.”

Maki blinked.

“Uh... hi.”

The entire room sighed with relief. A-K stood up.

“We were worried the damage you suffered may have been to much, so it’s gooooooooooooooooooooooERZKERSHTF that you’re awake.”

Halfway through his sentence, A-K had begun twitching and sending out sparks of electricity, causing the 23GT to reel back in horror. A-K regained his posture.

“Apologies. My inner wiring was attacked directly, and I am not yet able to run without error.”

Daniel, still shocked, gave him a thumbs up.

“... No worries!”

Eustace took off his hat.

“It’s thanks to A-K that we’re here. If not for him, we may have been killed by Vihaan.”

Marco scoffed.

“Yeah, but he let Rosegold get away!”

Eustace socked him over the head.

“THANK HIM, GODDAMNIT!”

“DON’T TELL ME WHO TO THANK, YOU LOSER!”

The two of them continued to bicker as Verdes got up from the back and walked over to Suru. He stood above her, his eyes peering into her soul.

“Did you really manage to link your Firearms?”

Luckily, her soul had its eyes closed.

“Yeah. Unless Linked Firearms aren’t supposed to be huge suits of mechanical armor that you control with your mind.”

Verdes turned back around and began to leave.

“That’s all I wanted to hear. I’m going to go scout the damaged area of the city and figure out how to best restore its plant-life.”

Suru sighed.

“Jerk.”

Verdes turned his head to her.

“... What?”

Suru cleaned her glasses.

“You’re not even gonna congratulate us on doing the thing you got mad at us for not being able to do just a few weeks ago? You’re a jerk. Have fun with your plants.”

Strangely enough, though her words were mean, there was no animosity in her voice. They could tell how each other felt, and it was nothing but positivity. Verdes opened the door,

“RRRRRRRRGGHHAHAAAAAAGHHHH THESE BANDAGES ARE TOO ITCHY...”

... and left.

Maxwell, now in a sweater rather than samurai armor, got up as well.

“It’s good to know you guys can link!”

He walked over to Captain, patting him on the back.

“Captain here called me in to help train you guys for that, but I guess we can just move on to the next step! Linking on command, maintaining the link... oh, and Advanced Firearm Techniques!”

This all sounded complicated and stressful, but the 23GT were too tired to argue.

Maxwell smiled.

“I understand. I gotta go now... me and this guy have to catch up!”

Captain laughed as Maxwell elbowed his side. He turned to the 23GT, and... well, he tried to speak, but words failed him. He wanted to tell them he was proud. He wanted to tell them how thankful he was that they were alive. But he could say all that later. Instead, he simply stood tall, smiled, and saluted. The 23GT did the same.

...

... Wait, where was Captain’s...

“Y’know, Captain, you shouldn’t use an attack if it’s gonna blow off your ENTIRE hand.”

Captain looked down at Maxwell.

“... It’ll grow back. C’mon, let’s leave these two to recover. You too, Daniel.”

Daniel twirled over their side.

“Of course.~”

A-K pushed the DonLeones out of the room, Captain and Maxwell exited, and Daniel closed the door behind him.

The girls were the only ones left.

Maki laid back down on her pillow. Neither of them looked at each other.

“... So, Maki...”

“Y- Yeah?”

“Are you... gonna stay with us? At TRIGGER?”

“... Y- Yeah. Yeah, I think I will.”

“Alright.”

“Although, I... I don’t think I wanna g- get super strong or anything.”

“No?”

“N- Nah. I wanna... well, I think I- I know why I want to st- stay.”

“I w- wanna stay so that I can become someone who... someone wh- who inspires others. When there’s d- danger, I wanna be able t- to inspire people to b... believe that everything will be okay.

“Is that st- stupid?”

“It’s great, Maki. Hundred percent fantastic. And I’ll be there to help you every step of the way, just like I promised. We all will.”

“Th- Thanks.”

Daniel burst through the door.

“I forgot to ask, did you guys want anything to eat!?”

Maki and Suru both thought for a moment before responding in unison.

“Yeah, I could eat.”

__“The fight between Shotglock and Bayone has resulted in the formation of a very powerful weapon. What? Daniel? He’s no longer a concern of ours. If he’s chosen to rebel from the Ranger Corps, then we’ll treat him like any other enemy. Samantha, your faction will be dealing with the disposal of that ungrateful brat. Eleonora, your faction is to hunt down and capture the beast created from the battle. Nicolas, begin preparations to integrate our technology into its being. What did your team dub it again...? Ah, yes. Our targets are TRIGGER, Daniel..._ _

__... and the Weaponic Beast, Chimera.”_ _

TO BE CONTINUED... IN SECOND ROUND

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's all, folks! TRIGGER: FIRST ROUND has officially been completed!  
> If you look at the publication date, you might notice I posted every episode of this arc on the same day. This is because I wanted to wait until it was complete to release TRIGGER publicly- it actually took me almost two years total to write the whole thing!  
> Thank you so, so much for reading. I'm super passionate about this story - and there's a lot left of it to tell - so I hope you continue to read as we enter SECOND ROUND.  
> In the meantime, though, if you'd like more TRIGGER content, consider joining the Discord server! It always makes me happy to the people that have read my work, so I hope to see you there! https://discord.gg/uGNZj7T
> 
> Thank you again for reading!
> 
> \- Jake


	14. Prologue for SECOND ROUND - The Date

___A phone began to ring._ _ _

___This by itself was nothing out of the ordinary, as phones have historically been known to ring, but this was a special case._ _ _

___Mainly because the phone ringing belonged to Maki Mai-Dearest, who couldn’t remember the last time she got a phone call of any kind._ _ _

___She began scrambling to find her ringing phone. It had started at a somewhat inopportune time, as she had been giving Edward his dinner. She was flipping over covers and pillows to try and locate the sound of her ringtone - a cute little song with a lot of synths - and gradually getting more panicked all the while, because on top of her being called at an inopportune time and being unable to actually find her phone, she had anxiety regarding communicating via a phone in general._ _ _

___A very special case indeed._ _ _

___All these facts combined made it so that when she finally did find her phone (it had fallen beside her mattress), the first word to come out of her mouth was one that came from a place of uncontrollable nervousness._ _ _

___“Y- YES?”_ _ _

___There was a silence._ _ _

___“Uhh... is this Maki?”_ _ _

___The voice on the other end was familiar. Very familiar._ _ _

___It sounded handsome._ _ _

___Wait..._ _ _

___“O- Oh! Uh- Jeremy! H- Hi! Sorry, I... uh...”_ _ _

___She began to blush. Jeremy chuckled._ _ _

___“Ah, no, I get it. I’m a weirdo for preferring to call over texting, I know. Sorry if it’s a bad time.”_ _ _

___Maki blushed harder. She quickly looked at Edward to make sure he was okay, then turned back to her phone._ _ _

___“N- No! You’re good! Uh...”_ _ _

___Jeremy cleared his throat._ _ _

___“Yeah, I was just making sure we’re still on for tomorrow.”_ _ _

___Maki froze up._ _ _

___Oh god._ _ _

___She had a date._ _ _

___It had slipped her mind in all of the previous week’s insanity- and she was going back to TRIGGER tomorrow, too._ _ _

___She knew it was going to be an incredibly stressful day._ _ _

___But..._ _ _

___“... Y... Yeah, I- I should be good.”_ _ _

___She swallowed her need to scream. Jeremy’s voice sounded like it was grinning._ _ _

___“Cool. Listen, I gotta go, so I’ll see you there, ‘kay?”_ _ _

___Maki nodded._ _ _

___“Mhm.”_ _ _

___And with that, the call ended._ _ _

___..._ _ _

___Was that an okay thing to do? The 23GT had been on break to recover from the Python incident, so they might want her to work late. If she had to leave Daniel and Suru, had she really learned anything?_ _ _

___She fell onto her bed and looked out her window._ _ _

___Hm._ _ _

___At least if tomorrow was bad, the stars made tonight’s sky beautiful._ _ _

___But, unbeknownst to her, a monster was hiding beneath those same stars._ _ _

___And it was clawing to get out._ _ _

___SECOND ROUND - BEGINS NOW_ _ _


	15. Episode 13 - The Samurai

-11:08 AM, April 17th, 2111-

“The current situation is somewhat concerning.”

A car sped along through the streets of the city, kicking up small pieces of gravel beneath its tires.

Within it were three rising Agents of TRIGGER.

“... W- We’re not gonna be fighting some h- homicidal maniac, are we...? I feel like we’re a bit u- unprepared for something like that...”

The first was a shorter-than-average young woman with a tendency to panic and a newfound resolve to inspire.

“Oh, we’ll be fine! We’ve come out of unpleasant situations just fine before, non~?”

The second was a young man so stunningly beautiful that his skin quite literally sparkled... who also suffered from some visions of grandeur.

“I don’t think Cap would have us fight some serial killer considering we just got back. And, even if we did, I feel like we tend to fight those kinds of guys on the regular.”

The third was an exceptionally capable young woman who was currently trying to get some extra sleep on the backseat floor of the car.

“Don’t worry, it’s nothing like that. We’ve actually encountered this criminal before, and he’s not especially powerful.”

Their driver was a well-spoken robot whose body hummed with the sounds of gears turning and wires firing up. The car suddenly came to a stop.

“However, he has managed to take quite a few hostages, hence my aforementioned concern.”

The car doors flew open, allowing the trio to make their way out of the vehicle and start heading towards their target.

“Of course, hostage situations are an important part of your training as Agents, so think of this as nothing more than a warm-up exercise. Well, do try not to give any of them injuries, of course...”

The robot named A-K waved goodbye as he closed the door and let the trio handle the situation themselves.

The anxious young woman took a few deep breaths.

The handsome young man stretched as a beautiful smile appeared across his face.

The tired young woman adjusted her glasses despite her eyes not being open.

Maki Mai-Dearest, Daniel Nightbright and Surururu Rurururu of TRIGGER’s 23GT were ready. 

“Ah, how wonderfully invigorating~!”

Daniel was twirling around Suru and Maki, happily sending bits of sparkle everywhere he went.

“It’s simply been oh-too-long since we could all see each other on a mission like this! And, considering I missed you both dearly, I can’t imagine how dull your life was without my personage.~”

Daniel chuckled to himself as he bounced off walls in delight. Suru cleaned her glasses.

“Danny, this is a hostage situation. Keep your voice down.”

Daniel paused in mid-air and fell onto the ground, Suru’s words shanking him and his good mood in the back. He curled up into a ball on the floor.

“Oh, Suru... for a moment I forgot how awfully blunt you are...”

Maki leaned down and patted Daniel on the head.

“D- Don’t worry, Daniel, it’s just because we’re on a m- mission... we both missed y- you too.”

Sparkling tears began streaming down Daniel’s face as he grasped Maki’s hands.

“Oh, Maki, you are the light of my life!”

Maki chuckled tentatively.

“Oh, d- don’t mention it.”

As Daniel got back on his feet, Suru looked around... for a few minutes, the 23GT had been roaming the halls of an eerily quiet hotel. The floors were carpeted in ugly greens, reds and yellows, the walls were a bland beige with cracks running through them every so often, and the overhead lights were just enough to see where you were going when windows weren’t available. It was shabby, but it was large... a good number of people had to live here, right? How many hostages were there...?

“You know, I don’t see the point in telling me to be quiet, Suru.”

Suru was snapped out of her trance by Daniel, who was tapping her shoulder.

“Every criminal we run into is loud, anyway.”

Daniel put his hand up to his chin, his eyes twinkling with pride.

“My flamboyance is tactical! I’m simply intimidating the enemy with my superior lung capacity.”

Suru’s eyes twitched.

“I dunno if that’s a viable strategy, dude.”

Maki squinted and pondered for a moment.

“N- No, he might actually have a point h- here. We do t- tend to fight a lot of loud p- people.”

Suru turned around.

“Huh? You’re siding with him?”

Daniel jumped forward, pirouetting as he landed.

“See!? Maki understands~!”

Maki stayed silent as she wondered if she was on the right side of this debate. Suru sighed and slipped her hands into her pockets.

“Ah, whatever. Let’s just...”

Suru heard a faint scampering in front of her. For a brief moment, she opened one eye... and saw the figure of a man running up the stairs in front of them. She immediately brought out Green Star and began sprinting towards him.

“The perp’s headed to a higher floor! Let’s move!”

Daniel laughed and swished his glorious hair back before taking out Nova Noir and firing a tiny vortex in front of himself. With immaculate style and precision, he flipped onto the vortex as it began to move forward - stepping over it with one foot - and balanced on it as it pulled him down and moved up the stairs, letting him glide across the ground and blazing speeds.

“Oh, I simply live for this!”

Maki, on the other hand, simply ran up the stairs while making sure to keep a good grip on the handrail, as not everyone could just pull out a special move whenever they felt like it. By the time she reached the top, Suru had been standing there, waiting. Daniel was nowhere to be found.

“Y- You guys... need to... slow down...”

She was panting heavily. Lower body strength was an area Maki still needed work in. Suru was looking around.

“Sorry. You need a sec?”

Maki, still panting, gave Suru a thumbs-up.

“... I’m good...”

Suru walked forward a bit.

“Cool. Now, we just need to find the perp, and Danny’s with him, so...”

A majestic-sounding scream echoed out from the end of the hallway.

“... Yup, there it is.”

Suru (and Maki, albeit at a slower pace) rushed to the room the sound came from. When they arrived, they were met with a door. Maki fiddled with her thumbs.

“M- Maybe we should-“

Suru kicked the door down with one powerful forward kick, her hands tucked into her pockets.

“- o- oh, okay.”

The room was lavish, at least, in comparison to the rest of the hotel. A nice rug, comfortable-looking chairs, even a fireplace. At its center was a man dressed in some green coat with strange, jagged shapes in yellow scattered throughout it. He wore a bowler hat, a white undershirt, copper-brown pants and was leisurely sitting in a chair as he sipping a glass of wine. In front of him was Daniel, who, instead of battling with the criminal like a responsible Agent, was staring in disgust at a large painting he held in his hands.

“This is horrid! Disgusting! Deplorable, even!”

He was seething with rage. His sparkles twinkled angrily. Maki and Suru both stood there, confused.

“This kind of expressionism mixed with these vivid, unnatural colors... this portrait is FAUVIST!”

The man in green sipped his wine and chuckled.

“Your friend has been caught in the trap my Firearm has laid out so masterfully... yes, anyone who gazes upon my Gallery’s portraits will become unable to look away!”

As Daniel raged and the man sipped his wine, Maki leaned in to Suru.

“U- Uh, what’s... fauvist?”

Suru readied Green Star.

“Eh, some kinda art thing. Hey, go handle Danny.”

Maki nodded and rushed in to calm down Daniel. Suru turned to face the man, who was again sipping his wine. He sat up in his chair.

“Hmm... so, you’ve come to stop me as well, have you? Well, my art cannot be tamed, and this eyesore of a building will be my first exhibition. I can’t have you ruining my plans, so I suppose...”

A small tommy gun appeared in the hand opposite of the one holding the wine- it seemed to be made out of wood, with its drum magazine filled with holes that dripped with paint.

“... you’ll just have to be one of my first patrons!”

A multicolored glob of paint was fired in Suru’s direction. As it flew through the air, it morphed and grew into another large portrait, zeroing in on Suru’s head- she narrowly dodged by swerving her body out of the way.

“Maki, Danny, how’s it going?”

Maki spoke up.

“W- We have a bit of a problem!”

Suru turned to face her. She and Daniel were both in the same situation- they both were completely focused on the painting. Daniel was still really, really angry.

“It’s so bad, I simply can’t look away! Oh, free me from this pain!”

Suru realized what the issue was. Damn... these paintings were impossible to look away from. She’ll just have to-

When she turned back to face the man, in front of her was a portrait. She had her face turned directly towards it. The man chuckled.

“Just as I said, you fools cannot possibly hope to extinguish the flame that is my art. Now, quietly gaze upon my prowess as I-“

The man’s words trailed off as Suru walked away from the portrait, silently. Apparently, this was enough of a shock to cause the man to stay completely frozen and dumbfounded long enough for Suru to simply walk over to him. Through grit teeth and cold sweat, the man spoke.

“H- How... did you... get through my art...?”

Suru put her arm on his shoulder and leaned down to face him. With her free hand, she pointed to fingers at her eyes.

“My eyes are closed.”

She brought out Green Star and pointed it at his stomach.

“Duh.”

She sent out a large rubber shot right into the man’s chest, sending him flying backwards and into the back wall and immediately knocking him out.

Creep.

Suru walked over to the man. He had a name tag on- “Lawrence Palette.” She hoisted him up over her shoulder, turning to her teammates.

“You guys alright-“

Maki and Daniel were now inspecting a passed out man who had seemingly appeared out of nowhere. Daniel was obviously much happier to be looking at this than the portraits.

“How peculiar!”

He was poking and prodding at the man with a smile on his face- and gloves on, of course.

“This man looks just like the one in the painting! With less disgusting coloration, of course.”

Suru gulped. She turned around... lo and behold, two more people where on the ground where the portraits used to be. Maki looked around nervously.

“H- Hey... do you think that... the p- paintings were...”

Suddenly, Palette’s Firearm began to shake violently. Suru dropped him on the ground and quickly jumped backwards to where Maki and Daniel were.

“Yo, Danny, there’s about to be a lot more of those paintings.”

Daniel gasped.

“... NO.”

Suru nodded.

“Yeah. They’re about to come flying out in every direction. I need you to get all of ‘em grouped together in one pile, got it?”

“Are we going to destroy them and their putrid color schemes?”

“Yeah.”

“Sensationnel~!”

Daniel stepped up, his body sparkling. Bringing out Nova Noir, he struck a pose- his legs spread, his body at an angle, and his hand waved in front of his face. He stared down the rampaging Gallery without even a hint of fear.

“It’s time something as disgusting as you was eradicated from this world!”

The Firearm roared and began spitting out large globs of paint in every direction. Daniel rushed into the fray, jumping, twirling and sliding across the floor and walls as he avoided the globs with immaculate finesse. Using Nova Noir, he fired vortices all around the room, bringing globs together in small piles as they transformed into paintings and again into people. The dark swirls of the vortices, the flying colors of the globs and Daniel himself sparkling brighter than even the biggest star in the sky all came together in a fantastical show of prowess and incredible spectacle. When Gallery had finally calmed down and disappeared, Daniel shot one more barrage to gather all the hostages in one place, landed stylishly on the ground and bowed lightly while twirling his hat.

“Ah... impressive, non~?”

Maki and Suru were both sitting on the floor. Once he had landed, they both began clapping quietly.

“E- Encore!”

“Yeah, it was, actually.”

Daniel laughed as he waved them away.

“Oh, you two flatter me!”

All three of them walked over to the pile of hostages. They seemed fine... Palette’s Gallery fortunately looked like it didn’t do any physical harm. Suru stretched and yawned.

“I think they’ll be fine if we leave now. Should we leave a note?”

Daniel jumped towards Suru.

“Ooh, a note! May I write it?”

Suru searched around for a pen and paper.

“Dude, your handwriting is too fancy. No one can read it.”

Daniel put his hand to his chest.

“How rude!”

As they went back and forth, Maki took it upon herself to restrain Palette.

... Of course, she didn’t have the tools to actually do that, so she ended up going into the room’s broom closet to find materials. As she searched for rope-or-tape-or-what-have-you, a sudden rustling was heard behind you.

“You... you all ruined my art!”

Without warning, Palette’s half-conscious body sprung up again and used Gallery to fire a massive wave of paint at both the pile of people, Daniel and Suru. They were immediately swept up and stuck, and were beginning to travel back into the drum cartridge to once again become portraits.

Maki stood in fear for a moment. What could she do?

Wait, no... she can do lots!

With some hesitation and anxiety weighing on her chest, Maki stumbled forward. Though her hands were shaking, she brought out Soul Burst and let it form into a bazooka. With one giant shot she disrupted the flow of the paint, saving the hostages and her team, and with another she sent Palette flying at high speeds out a window. Once he was gone, the paint disappeared...

Wait, did she just knock someone out of a window!?

She rushed over to the broken glass, looked out, and... saw A-K holding Palette. He looked up and gave her a thumbs up. She sighed in relief.

“Way to go, Maki!”

She yelped in fear and turned around to see Daniel and Suru, both seemingly fine. Daniel was beaming as always.

“You did wonderful! And my suit is still as clean as when I put it on... très bien!”

A nervous smile crept onto Maki’s face as she rubbed the back of her head.

“O- Oh... it was nothing, really. I’m j- just glad you guys are okay!”

Suru handed her a pen and paper.

“Here, you can write the note. My handwriting is too messy.”

Maki took it and nodded.

“Y- Yeah, sure!”

Once the note was ridden, the 23GT left, feeling accomplished. On the ride to HQ, they asked A-K to stop so they could get milkshakes as a treat. He obliged. 

“Fantastic work, everyone!”

As soon as the 23GT walked into TRIGGER HQ, they were greeted with a smiling Captain. The trio all saluted and spoke in unison.

“Hello, sir!”

Captain saluted back.

“It’s nice to finally have you back! It was lonely without you all.”

Daniel, sipping on some kind of latte-milkshake combo, pointed at Captain’s arm.

“Your hand grew back!”

Captain furrowed his brow for a moment before realizing what Daniel meant.

“Ah, yes! It’s self-repairing.”

A-K walked through the door, now without any Palette.

“I’ve taken the perp to prison. Apparently he was a petty thief who recently gained a Firearm.”

Maki took a sip of her milkshake. It was strawberry and had bits of graham cracker in it.

“Man, h- he was creepy... but no one got i- injured during the mission, so I think we did good!”

Captain nodded.

“You’ve all very clearly made great strides in your training. One day, you’ll all undoubtedly become great Agents.”

Suru took a gulp of her milkshake. It was thick vanilla and chocolate.

“But we still need to get stronger, right?”

Maki and Daniel turned to her.

“I mean, we’re gonna have to deal with the aftermath of that big battle a few weeks ago, aren’t we?”

Captain’s smile faded away into something more serious.

“... Yes... Yes, you’re correct, Suru. We will. I’ll be discussing with you all what exactly we’re up against at a later date, but it’s best you all begin preparing yourselves now.”

All three of them sipped on their milkshakes.

That got kinda intense.

Captain blinked.

“Oh- sorry, I didn’t mean to frighten you all.”

Daniel put down his milkshake and walked over to Captain. He suddenly hugged him, although he only went up to his waist.

“It’s okay, Captain! Don’t you know by now that there’s nothing we can’t handle?”

Maki followed suit, although she only went up to his knee.

“Y- Yeah. It’ll be okay!”

Suru didn’t hug him, but she rested against his leg.

“You need to work on tone shifts, Cap. That’s the kind of thing that scares off new recruits.”

Captain said nothing for a moment... then laughed and bent down to embrace the 23GT.

“You’re right. I’m working myself up over nothing. Thank you all.”

Captain made sure to be gentle, but it was still the strongest hug any of them had ever received. Suru almost made out tears forming under Captain’s eyes. Once he was done, they all stood back up.

“Now, then... your task for the rest of today will be undergoing beginner’s training for Advanced Firearm Techniques.”

Suru cleaned her glasses with her shirt.

“Oh, yeah... that got mentioned back in the hospital, didn’t it?”

Captain nodded.

“Yes.”

He began to walk away, motioning for A-K to follow.

“Your teacher is through that door, in the break room.”

Captain was pointing at a door to the far left.

“Don’t worry. We’re leaving you in good hands.”

And, just like that, Captain and A-K were gone.

Maki grinned.

“That was n- nice.”

Suru spoke in a nice tone.

“Yeah.”

Daniel pranced over to the door Captain had pointed to.

“Behind this door is someone who will teach us new and exciting ways to use our Firearms... how exciting!”

Maki shuffled over to the door, standing behind Daniel.

“Do you guys th- think they’ll be weird? L- Like, mean and m- mangy and loud weird?”

Suru walked up to the door and pushed it open.

“I can’t imagine they could be any weirder than someone like Verdes.”

Inside the door was a man screaming out in pain as hellfire escaped from his mouth. Suru shut the door.

“Okay, well, I stand corrected.”

The door flew open as the man rushed out into the main room, still screaming in pain. He ran around like some kind of animal, leaving bits of ash everywhere as he ran.

“IT’S HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT!!!!!”

He finally slammed headfirst into a fridge, opened it up and chugged down at least a gallon of milk before slumping into the ground. He had stopped moving completely, and his eyes were glazed over. Maki, terrified, could barely get her words out.

“I- I- I- I- Is he... d- de- dead!?”

There was silence.

...

The man popped back up again.

“Woo! Man, that was a good lunch!”

He laughed to himself and closed the fridge. When he turned around, he saw the 23GT looking like deer that had just witness a fire demon drown itself in milk. Still, he smiled and laughed.

“Oh, hey guys! Sorry about that, I always eat super spicy food even though I can’t take it! Hey, have you ever tried Shita-no-Kazam ramen? It’s a Japanese family brand thing. Apparently the guy who makes it has a Firearm that can make tiny bombs, so he uses it in small doses to make it so that flames spew out from your mouth when you eat it! Crazy, huh!? Well, actually, that’s just what I’ve heard, I dunno if it’s true or not. Maybe it’s just that spicy, y’know? Do you guys like ramen?”

As he talked, his big smile never once left his face.

This guy was weird. Suru stood up.

“... Are you our teacher?”

The man stopped for a moment, then knocked himself on the head.

“Oh, duh! Right! You guys must not remember me. We kind of met under weird circumstances, ha! Well, allow me to properly introduce myself!”

The man bowed slightly.

“My name’s Maxwell Manderson, a member of TRIGGER’s 1GT! I helped you guys deal with that weird armor girl, remember? I wonder how she’s doing...”

Daniel flipped forward and pointed at Maxwell.

“Hey, you’re that samurai!”

Maxwell gave him a thumbs-up.

“Correctamundo! Twenty points to Nightbright!”

Now that they could get a better look at him, the 23GT realized that Maxwell did look familiar. His face was the same as when they saw him before, but this time he was wearing a button-up suit and comfy-looking pants both lined with yellow and black stripes rather than samurai armor. Although, strangely enough, he did have his Firearm in its hilt attached to his pants.

“I already know you guys, so you don’t have to introduce yourselves if you don’t wanna. Oh, not in a creepy way, don’t worry! Captain’s just talked to me about you guys before. He’s actually a huge softie, didja know that?”

Daniel flipped over to him.

“Oh, yes, of course!”

The two began prattling away to each other. Suru nudged Maki with her shoulder.

“Hey, Danny found a friend.”

Maki snickered a little bit. Maxwell cracked his neck.

“Well, I guess you guys wanna go ahead and learn about AFTs, huh? Well, that’s what I’m here for! At least partially, anyway. My job is also stopping criminals using my rad katana-gun.”

Maxwell laughed loudly to himself.

“Katana-gun! Ha! Right out of some action manga. Follow me, guys!”

Maxwell rushed off into a room in the back, and the 23GT followed quickly.

This guy was weird.

Eventually, they all ended up in a large, completely white arena. Maxwell took in the air.

“This is TRIGGER HQ’s physical training arena! Neat, huh?”

Maki, Daniel and Suru all looked around.

“How m- many rooms does HQ even have?”

“Minimalist? Interesting!”

“It’d be nice to nap in.”

Maxwell let out a hearty cackle.

“Man, you guys are funny!”

Suru turned around to face the samurai.

“So... what even is an AFT?”

Maxwell cleared his throat.

“We’ll get to that soon, don’t worry. But first...”

Maxwell pulled out his katana-Firearm, Dokushin.

“You guys have to fight me!”

All three of them tilted their heads.

“Huh?”

“Here are the rules!”

Maxwell grabbed a piece of black cloth out of his pocket and tied it around his eyes.

“I’m gonna have this cloth over me the entire time, and I’m only gonna be using one hand- the hand that’s holding my Dokushin right now. The other will be behind my back the whole time! I’m not allowed to attack you guys directly- I can only block and parry your attacks with Dokushin, and I’m not allowed to actually fire any of its shots. You guys, however, can use any tactics you can think up and attack me all you want! You guys have three minutes. If you can land one hit on me or if at least one of you is still standing by the time we’re done, you win! I’ll even buy you lunch! Sound fair?”

Maki looked for an exit.

“Uh... n- not really.”

“Great! We’ll start when you guys make the first move.”

Daniel put his hand up to his chin.

“Hmm... well, this is strange.”

Suru brought out Green Star.

“He’s obviously up to something. Just look at that smile.”

Maxwell was, indeed, smiling- smiling in a way that made it look like he had already won. Maki gulped.

“M- Maybe we should rush him?”

“Let’s not-“

“Splendid idea~!”

“Danny no-“

It was too late. He was already twinkling. Daniel lunged into the air and fired off as many shots from Nova Noir as he could manage, and the floor was now crawling with black holes. Maxwell was pulled down a bit, and Daniel took the opportunity to pounce at him from the back. Maxwell smiled all the same.

“Incapacitating me with a barrage attack so you could hit me from the back? Hey, that’s smarts!”

Maxwell pulled himself away from the ground and blocked Daniel’s attack with Dokushin’s dull side, creating a loud clang and completely overwhelming Daniel with his strength.

“But having this many holes at once weakens them quite a bit, huh?”

Maxwell used Dokushin to fling Daniel back to the 23GT’s side, causing all the vortices to close at once. A large flash of yellow light snapped from Daniel as he flew and slammed into the wall.

Suru rushed over to him.

“Danny, are you okay!?”

A yellow energy was emanating from his slumped body.

“That was... beautiful... hark!”

His head tilted down. He was asleep.

Maki let out a quiet whimper.

“Hey, ya gonna attack me or what?”

Maxwell was now behind Maki, the sight of which caused Soul Burst to go absolutely ballistic. Shots were ricocheting all over the arena, but Maxwell was managing to block any that came close to him perfectly.

“You know, this actually reminds me of a mission I was on once. I was fighting a guy whose Firearm could relax people’s muscles - crazy, right? - and both my arms were totally asleep, so you know what I had to do? I had to hold Dokushin with my teeth! Can you believe it!? Lemme tell ya, it’s not easy to hold anything that big with your teeth. It got me thinking, you know those guys that eat competitively? Are their teeth, like, really really strong? You think a competitive eater could hold a katana with their teeth more easily? I meant to look into it, but I never did. Maybe I should start eating like that myself! Ha! What do you guys think?”

Maxwell was completely unaffected by the insane bullet hell he was in the midst of and had managed to completely quell all of Soul Burst’s shots... with one hand... while talking about all that. Maki hid behind Suru and the asleep Daniel.

“SURUWHATDOWEDO”

“Hold on.”

Suru had wanted to try this for a while... she opened Daniel’s mouth, put one of Green Star’s muzzles into it, and fired. After a few seconds, Daniel was back on his feet, and he was pumped.

“I FEEL FANTASTIC!”

Maki blinked.

“Huh? W- Wait, what did you do?”

Suru stood up and regained her composure.

“I turned one of Green Star’s bullets into a concentrated shot of an energy drink, basically. I’m glad it worked. Now...”

She turned to Maxwell, her eyes wide open.

“Maki. Daniel. Follow my lead.”

Maxwell was standing on the other side of the arena, whistling a tune to himself.

“Hey, are you guys planning something? I bet you are. Ooh, is it a cool plan? I bet it is-“

Maxwell was interrupted by a sudden burst of flames in front of him.

“Fire? Oh, yeah, Suru’s Firearm can do that, huh?”

A large shot from Soul Burst rushed out from the side, forcing Maxwell to block. In the instant he was pushed back, a large vortex from Nova Noir swept up him and the fire to the side, causing the fire to suddenly roar up and forcing Maxwell to jump.

“Man, you guys really were planning something cool! It’s hard to dodge fire even if you can see it!”

The 23GT were all aiming straight for him. Suru’s voice led their attack.

“Now!”

All three of them fired the biggest shot they could manage, all forming together as one massive bullet thanks to Nova Noir’s shot pulling them together.

... But Maxwell was still smiling.

“Hey, nice try! But...!”

In an instant, all the shots were cut clean in half by a midair Maxwell, crashing off to the side and sending him flying towards their direction. Once he landed, the 23GT were all pushed back into the wall, defeating them all in one attack.

“You lose! Man, that was fun!”

Maxwell laughed as he put Dokushin back into its sheath and removed his blindfold.

“But, hey, that was super cool! Nice job, guys!”

He walked over and helped the trio up.

“So, how did that feel?”

Maki could only let out coughs and whimpers. Daniel was frantically checking for any tears in his outfit. Suru groaned.

“How the hell... did you do all that?”

Maxwell smiled.

“Well, listen up and listen good! The reason I was able to defeat you guys is because I was using an Advanced Firearm Technique- or AFT, for short!”

Daniel’s suit, luckily, had no tears. He was now facing Maxwell, intrigued by his tactics.

“You keep mentioning them, but what exactly is an AFT? They sound... stylish.”

Maxwell brought out Dokushin once again and waved it around as he explained.

“An AFT is a way to vastly improve your ability to use your Firearm, achieved by tapping into certain psychological practices and mental states! There are three main ones, however, people can really only use one, so it’s best not to worry about all of them for now. The one I use allows me to sense other people’s thoughts and feelings via psychological signals their Firearms give out, using Dokushin as a sort-of receptor for those signals. It allows me to predict and react to other people’s actions without even seeing them, and even lets me tap into and attack other people’s Firearms directly! That’s why you fell asleep once I blocked you, Daniel. This is the first AFT - the easiest to learn, but hardest to master - Empath!”

Maxwell stood with pride and determination. The 23GT were in awe. The only sound came from Suru.

“Woah.”

Maxwell laughed.

“Woah indeed! From now on, I’ll be training you guys in more advanced combat stuff and seeing which one of you resonates most with using Empath. Sounds cool, huh?”

Maki spoke up.

“W- When will we be able to use A- AFTS?”

Maxwell put Dokushin back in its sheath.

“Hmm... well... well, think of a caterpillar! It has three stages- larva, cocoon and butterfly. Right now, you guys are in a cocoon made of training, and soon you’ll burst out as a butterfly made of new powers- AFTs! Of course, the cocoon of training could only be made by you learning from your earlier missions, which is like when caterpillars eat leaves to bulk themselves up for the cocoon. Which is now made of training. And, y’know, caterpillars only go through this once, but you guys will go through it a lot. You’ll go through multiple at the same time, actually. Although, some will take longer than others. What we’re doing now isn’t your only cocoon. It’s a metaphor for general progress that’s applicable to multiple things. Wait, is it a metaphor, or a simile? Man, I should’ve payed more attention in English. You’d think I’d know, since I speak the dang language! Ha!”

The 23GT were all squinting at him.

“... It’ll take a while, is what I’m saying.”

Maxwell checked his watch.

“Well, how about we break for lunch, then go another round?”

Daniel pumped his fist.

“Alright! This time I’ll outshine you easily!”

Maxwell laughed.

“I’m sure you will!”

Suru sighed.

“Well, I’m glad you two have each other.”

Maki thought to herself...

... it’ll be okay.

“U- Um, sorry, but... I- I think I’m gonna... have to...”

They turned to look at her.

“... l- leave kind of early today.”

Maxwell put on a gentler smile.

“Oh, well, that’s okay. How come?”

Maki blushed.

“W- Well... um... I have...”

...

“... a date.”

Daniel, Suru and Maxwell’s eyes all lit up. There was silence for a moment.

Daniel shrieked. Oh, to be young and in love!

TO BE CONTINUED


End file.
